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CUTTING EDGE |
The Scripps Research Institute, Departments of Immunology and Cell Biology, La Jolla, CA 92037
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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All apoptotic cells undergo a similar sequence of characteristic morphologic and biochemical events (9, 10, 11, 12). Current evidence implicates a cascade of ICE5/CED-3 family cysteine proteases (termed caspases; 13) as a common and critical component of the cell death pathway (12, 13, 14, 15). A sequential activation cascade, which is not yet well defined, occurs subsequent to FADD-like IL-1ß-converting enzyme/MORTI-associated CED-3 homolog 1/Caspase 8 activation (16, 17, 18). The DEVD-sensitive CPP32/Caspase 3 is activated from a proto-form through the action of upstream YVAD-sensitive protease(s) (18) and has been strongly implicated as an important downstream mediator of cell death. Inhibition of CPP32 activity by either tetrapeptide inhibitors or CrmA attenuates apoptosis in vitro in a wide array of cell types, and the generation of a CPP32 null mouse has established a critical role for CPP32 in neuronal apoptosis (19, 20). The downstream targets for proteolytic cleavage by CPP32 and related DEVD-sensitive proteases are few, and their role in subsequent apoptotic events remains unclear.
Stimuli that induce cellular stress, including ultraviolet light, inflammatory cytokines, chemotherapeutic drugs, withdrawal of growth factors, etc., often induce apoptosis (21, 22). These agents are also known to effectively induce the activation of JNK (c-Jun amino terminal kinase) and the related p38 kinase (23, 24). Increases in JNK activity have been noted in cells undergoing apoptosis (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30), and JNK activity is stimulated by ceramide, a proposed mediator of apoptotic signaling (31). In some cells, defects in the ability to activate JNK or the blockade of JNK signaling pathways can inhibit apoptosis (25, 32, 33). It has been suggested that a balance of signals between the JNK and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathways serves as an important determinant of whether cells survive or undergo apoptosis (33).
The small GTPases Rac and Cdc42 are important upstream regulators of the protein kinase cascades that control JNK activity (34, 35, 36), and we have recently established that expression of constitutively active forms of Cdc42 can induce apoptosis through a mechanism requiring signaling through JNK (37). One of the immediate downstream mediators of Rac and Cdc42 in this pathway are the p21-activated kinases (PAKs)(36, 38). PAKs are serine/threonine kinases that bind Rac or Cdc42 only when these GTPases are in the GTP-bound active form (39, 40). PAKs contain a catalytic C-terminal domain that is highly homologous to the kinase domain of Ste20 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and a family of mammalian Ste20-related kinases appears to exist (41). We have recently described that PAK2 is proteolytically cleaved and activated through the action of a DEVD-sensitive protease during Fas-induced apoptosis (42). In the current paper, we show that expression of the constitutively activated PAK2 C terminus induces Jurkat T cell apoptosis and that PAK activity is required for activation of the JNK pathway by Fas receptor in Jurkat T cells. These data indicate that PAK2 may be an important component of cell death signaling.
| Materials and Methods |
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Jurkat E6 T cells were routinely cultivated in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 10% FCS, L-glutamine, streptomycin, and penicillin at 37°C under a 5% CO2 atmosphere. Ste-20 VI antisera was from Kinetek Biotechnology Corporation, Vancouver, B.C., Canada. pBJ5 vector was from L. Holsinger, Stanford University, and pCMV5-MEKK+ from M. Karin, University of California at San Diego. The Jurkat cell lines (TD8, TA12) expressing dominant negative PAK1(H83L, H86L, and K299R) under the control of the IPTG-inducible Lac repressor system were prepared and handled as described previously (42). Transient transfections were performed as described previously (37).
JNK Assay
An amount equal to 3 x 106 cells was lysed in 500 µl of cell extraction buffer (CEB = 25 mM HEPES, pH 7.5, 300 mM NaCl, 1.5 mM MgCl2, 0.2 mM EDTA, 0.1% Triton X-100, 0.5 mM DTT, 20 mM ß-glycerophosphate, 1 mM sodium orthovanadate, 0.5 mM PMSF, 0.5 µg/ml leupeptin, 5 µg/ml aprotinin), and lysates clarified by centrifugation at 14,000 x g for 10 min. Ten micrograms of glutathione S-transferase (GST)-cJun (aa 179) coupled to glutathione Sepharose beads was added, and JNK kinase reactions were performed as described previously (36, 37). The samples were resolved on a 13% polyacrylamide gel and analyzed using a phosphoimager (Molecular Dynamics, Sunnyvale, CA).
Apoptosis
Apoptosis was induced by adding Fas-IgM Ab (Immunotech Inc., Westbrook, ME) at 150 ng/ml to Jurkat T cells in complete medium for the times indicated. Jurkat T cells were suspended in propidium iodide buffer (PI buffer = 0.1% Na-citrate, 0.1% Triton-X-100, 20 µg/ml propidium iodide) and analyzed by FACS as previously described (43). DNA fragmentation was confirmed by TUNEL assay (42).
| Results |
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The stress-activated protein kinase (SAPK/JNK) pathway has been
shown to be activated as a result of stress-related, proapoptotic
stimuli in a variety of cell types (21, 24, 26). We established that
the JNK pathway is induced upon ligation of the Fas receptor in Jurkat
T cells. Cells were stimulated by cross-linking the Fas receptor with
anti-Fas IgM mAb, and JNK kinase activity was determined (Fig. 1
, A and B).
About 1 h after Fas ligation, a strong JNK activity was observed
that peaked at 2 h and declined again after 3 h. The same
samples analyzed for JNK activity were also examined for
apoptosis by PI staining, and exhibited a significant increase
in apoptotic cells after 1 h (Fig. 1
B). Thus
Fas ligation induced a strong activation of JNK which correlated with
the onset of apoptosis.
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PAK activity is required for Fas-induced JNK activation
We previously reported that only PAK2 appeared to be activated by
Fas in the Jurkat cell system, and this activation occurred via
proteolytic removal of the regulatory N terminus of PAK2 by
DEVD-sensitive caspase(s) (42). As shown in Figure 1
B
(inset), JNK activation induced by Fas
cross-linking correlated temporally with PAK2 cleavage. We investigated
whether PAK2 might be involved upstream in the Fas-induced signaling
cascade leading to JNK by constructing Jurkat cell lines (TD8, TA12)
stably expressing the PAK1 (H83L,H86L,K299R) dominant negative mutant
kinase under an IPTG-inducible promoter. This PAK mutant contains a
K299R mutation that inactivates the catalytic activity of the kinase
domain; mutation of this site has been demonstrated to induce dominant
negative activity when introduced into various signaling kinases (44).
The presence of the histidine 83 and 86 mutations in the small GTPase
binding site prevents GTPase binding (45) and enables us to avoid
potentially complicating effects due to titration of Rac and/or Cdc42
GTPases. Since mammalian PAKs (PAK1, 2, 3) are all over 90% identical
in their C-terminal kinase domains, it is likely that the PAK1
(H83L,H86L,K299R) mutant will inhibit downstream signaling of all three
PAK isoforms. We therefore examined the effect of expression of this
protein on Fas-mediated JNK activation.
PAK1 (H83L,H86L,K299R) was induced about threefold in the stable Jurkat
line TD8 in the presence of IPTG as determined by immunoblotting,
although background expression levels were also detectable in the
absence of IPTG (Fig. 2
A). Fas ligation in
Jurkat TD8 cells resulted only in weak activation of JNK even in the
absence of IPTG, where dominant negative PAK was expressed at a lower
level (Fig. 2
, B and C). Induction of
further PAK1 (H83L,H86L,K299R) expression with IPTG reduced the JNK
activation even below that of the unstimulated Jurkat TD8
control (Fig. 2
, B and C). JNK
expression levels remained similar under each condition. Essentially
the same result was obtained using the independently derived TA12 clone
expressing PAK1 (H83L,H86L,K299R). In contrast, JNK activation was
substantially increased in Fas-treated control Jurkat T cells.
Furthermore, the phorbol ester PMA, which activates JNK via a protein
kinase C-mediated pathway, effectively induced JNK activation in both
control cells and Jurkat TD8 cells, suggesting that Fas activates the
JNK pathway specifically via a PAK-dependent pathway.
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We observed that even though JNK activity was completely inhibited after Fas ligation in the IPTG-induced TD8 or TA12 cell lines, there was little or no effect on the rate of apoptotic cell death, nor upon the number of dead cells, as evaluated by PI staining of nuclei and flow cytometry, as well as by TUNEL assay (42). These data indicate that JNK activity is not absolutely required for Fas-induced killing of Jurkat T cells and that the Fas receptor is able to couple to alternative cell death pathway(s) not involving JNK signaling.
Transient expression of the catalytically active PAK2 C terminus in
Jurkat cells effectively induced cell death by apoptosis (Fig. 3
). In contrast, expression of a
catalytically inactive mutant of the PAK2 kinase domain (K278R) did not
cause apoptosis in the same experiment (Fig. 3
). As with the
active PAK2 C terminus, expression of a constitutively active MEKK,
known to induce JNK activation, also produced apoptosis. These
results establish that proteolytic activation of PAK2 via removal of
the regulatory N terminus is sufficient to induce apoptosis and
that this effect is dependent upon PAK catalytic activity.
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| Discussion |
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It has recently been reported that MEKK1, another kinase acting upstream of the JNK pathway, is cleaved and activated during anoikis, a form of apoptosis initiated by loss of cell-substratum contacts (46). Caspase-mediated cleavage and activation of upstream regulatory kinases may be a common theme to ensure the onset and maintenance of JNK activation to induce a proper death response. It remains to be tested whether PAK2 and MEKK1 are cleaved differentially depending upon the apoptotic stimulus and cell type.
In some cells a newly identified adapter protein, termed Daax, couples
the Fas receptor to cell death via JNK activation (47). However, in
contrast to our model of caspase-dependent, PAK2-regulated JNK
activation in Jurkat T cells, this signaling mechanism seems not to be
dependent on caspase activity. Such a mechanism may account for the
residual YVAD- and DEVD-insensitive JNK activity we observed (see Fig. 1
C). The intriguing possibility that DAAX may regulate JNK
activation via a Rac/Cdc42-mediated PAK activation remains to be
examined.
What is the role of PAK2 in cell death responses? Under conditions
where JNK activity was blocked, Fas still killed Jurkat cells
effectively. These data do not rule out an important role for JNK in
regulating apoptosis in response to other known apoptotic
stimuli (ceramides, growth factor withdrawal, etc.). We have observed
that stimulation of the JNK kinase cascade, by Cdc42 and downstream
kinases that lead to JNK and p38 stimulation, can induce regulated cell
death (37). Transient expression of the constitutively active PAK2 C
terminus induced Jurkat cell apoptosis, and this effect
required a catalytically active PAK2 protein (Fig. 3
). We have not yet
been able to determine whether this effect of PAK2 is mediated by JNK
activation, however. The current data, as well as that presented in our
previous work (42), suggest a model of PAK2 action during the apoptotic
response (Fig. 4
). Since PAK2 is
particularly abundant in neuronal tissue and hemopoietic cell lines
(39, 40), it may be an important component of JNK-mediated cell death
signals in such cells.
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| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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2 This is publication No. 11093-IMM from The Scripps Research Institute. ![]()
3 Current address: Max Planck Institut für Infektionsbiologie, Abt. Molekulare Biologie, Berlin, Germany ![]()
4 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Gary M. Bokoch, The Scripps Research Institute, Department of Immunology-IMM14, 10550 N. Torrey Pines Road,La Jolla, CA 92037. E-mail address: ![]()
5 Abbreviations used in this paper: ICE, IL-1ß-converting enzyme; CPP32, 32-kDa cysteine protease; JNK, c-Jun N-terminal kinase; PAK, p21-activated kinase; IPTG, isopropyl ß-D-thiogalactoside; TUNEL, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-nick end labeling; SAPK, stress-activated protein kinase; PI, propidium iodide; MEKK, mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase; caspase, cysteine requiring aspartase protease activity; CED-3, caenorhabditis elegans death gene 3. ![]()
Received for publication September 15, 1997. Accepted for publication October 20, 1997.
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