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Departments of
*
Cell Biology and Anatomy and
Medicine, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY 10595
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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Despite clear evidence of the influence of cytokines upon various p53-induced cellular processes, for example the rescue of p53-induced apoptosis in myeloid M1 cells by IL-6 (9, 10, 11), there is little or no information concerning the influence, direct or indirect, of the transcription factor p53 upon cytokine-elicited cellular signaling through the JAK-STAT pathway. While mutations in p53 are among the commonest alterations observed in human cancer (12, 13, 14, 15, 16), many human cancers are characterized by no or only rare mutations in p53 (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23). For example, B cell neoplasia such as myelomas rarely display mutations in p53, with the frequency of mutations in p53 rising only in advanced cases no longer responsive to therapy (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22). Furthermore, more than half of all human cancers are characterized by an increase in the level of p53 expression, and in many instances this increased expression is that of the normal wild-type (wt) p53 allele (12, 24, 25, 26, 27). Indeed, increased levels of wt p53 have now been found in subsets of human cancers, including neuroblastomas, mesotheliomas, and breast, colon, and pancreatic cancer (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39). Today, p53 is considered to be a promising target tumor Ag against which to mount an active specific anti-cancer immune response as a therapeutic modality (12, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33). However, we have observed recently that the use of different active immunization regimens against human cancers resulted in the development of long-lived high levels of circulating IL-6 in the cancer patient, an outcome that may well prove to be a general feature of successful active specific anti-cancer immunization regimens (40). Thus, we asked whether the p53 status of tumor cells could affect signal transduction pathways triggered by IL-6.
To investigate the effects of p53 on the signal transduction
pathways engaged by IL-6, as distinct from the previously well-studied
modulation by p53 of cell proliferation, apoptosis, or rescue from DNA
damage, we used the p53-free human hepatoma Hep3B cell line to derive
11 cell lines that constitutively express the temperature-sensitive
(ts) p53-Val135 mutant of p53 (41). These
p53-Val135-expressing hepatoma Hep3B cell lines provided a
unique opportunity to investigate the ability of p53 to modulate the
rapid response of liver cells to cytokines; namely, the induction of
acute phase plasma protein secretion by IL-6 as a function of
incubation temperature (p53-Val135 has a mutant
conformation at 37°C and a wt-like conformation at 32.5°C (see ref.
42 for a discussion of the gain-in-function phenotype of
p53-Val135 at 32.5°C as contrasted with the wt phenotype
per se). We observed a reduced ability of these
p53-Val135-containing Hep3B cell lines to secrete
fibrinogen and
1-antichymotrypsin in response to IL-6 at
the wt p53 temperature but not at the mutant p53 temperature (41). In
investigating the possible biochemical basis for this reduced
responsiveness and in a departure from previous studies that had
reported the cytoplasm to nuclear translocation of STAT3 and STAT5
immunofluorescence upon treatment of human hepatoma cells with
cytokines (43, 44), we discovered that the exposure to IL-6 of
p53-Val135-containing hepatoma cells previously incubated
at the wt p53 temperature led to a marked loss of STAT3 and STAT5
cytoplasmic and nuclear immunofluorescence without a commensurate
degradation of the respective STAT proteins (STAT-masking)
(45).
In this article we report a characterization of IL-6-induced STAT-masking in p53-Val135-containing Hep3B cells at the cellular level, define the biochemical basis of its regulation, and provide evidence of its functional consequences. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that a p53-Val135-dependent gene product(s) that accumulates in Hep3B cells at 32.5°C modulates the immunologic accessibility to and function of STAT3 and STAT5 proteins. Thus, STAT-masking appears to be a new cellular process by which p53 can indirectly regulate the response of cells to cytokines.
| Materials and Methods |
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A series of 11 stably transfected cell lines constitutively expressing p53-Val135 and seven control cell lines expressing pSVneo alone were derived from the p53-free human hepatoma Hep3B line as has been described previously (41). Using immunofluorescence assays, all 11 p53-Val135-containing Hep3B cell lines were confirmed to display a ts p53 conformation (mutant at 37°C and wt-like at 32.5°C) and to display IL-6-induced STAT-masking, but none of the seven pSVneo-only lines or the parental Hep3B cells displayed the STAT-masking phenotype (45). Cell lines 1 and 5, both of which express p53-Val135, and the parental Hep3B cell line were used in the present experiments. The level of cellular p53 expression in lines 1 and 5 cell lines was comparable to that observed in T47D human breast carcinoma cells as assayed using a pan-specific anti-p53 mAb in immunofluorescence studies.
Immunofluorescence analyses for STAT transcription factors
These were conducted in eight-well chamber slides (Nunc, Naperville, IL; 2 x 104 cells/well) as described previously (45). Immunostaining using various monoclonal and polyclonal Abs was conducted according to the instructions provided by the respective Ab suppliers using goat serum as the blocking agent and fluorescein-tagged goat anti-murine IgG or rhodamine-tagged goat anti-rabbit IgG (Cappel Organon Teknika, West Chester, PA) as the second Ab. Cellular immunofluorescence was evaluated using a Bio-Rad MRC 1000 dual laser confocal microscopy system (Bio-Rad, Richmond, CA). All data within one experiment (controls and all experimental groups) were collected at the same laser intensity, black level, and gain settings. In control experiments, the secondary Abs by themselves did not reveal any immunofluorescence (data not shown). Murine mAbs to STAT1, STAT3, and STAT5a (marketed as anti-STAT5) were purchased from Transduction Laboratories (Lexington, KY). Murine mAb to STAT5b and rabbit polyclonal Ab (pAb) to STAT3 (C-20) were purchased from Santa Cruz Biotechnology (Santa Cruz, CA). The rabbit polyclonal anti-PY-STAT3 was purchased from New England Biolabs (Beverley, MA). The anti-STAT3 mAb from Transduction Laboratories was derived using the amino-terminal residues 1 to 175 in STAT3 as immunogen, while the anti-STAT3 pAb (C20) from Santa Cruz Biotechnology was raised to a peptide corresponding to the carboxyl-terminal residues 750 to 769 in the STAT3 protein. The anti-PY-STAT3 pAb was raised to a synthetic phospho-Tyr705 peptide corresponding to residues 701 to 709 of mouse STAT3.
Cell fractionation and immunoprecipitation
Hepatoma cells cultured in 100-mm plastic petri dishes were harvested and fractionated into cytoplasmic and nuclear fractions using hypotonic swelling (1 ml/cell pellet derived from one 100-mm culture) and Dounce homogenization essentially as described previously (46, 47, 48). The cytoplasmic fraction was clarified by centrifugation at 15,000 x g for 15 min. The nuclear pellet was washed with hypotonic buffer containing 0.2% Nonidet P-40 to remove cytoplasmic contamination. In some experiments a whole cell lysis buffer containing 1% Triton X-100 and 0.5% Nonidet P-40 (according to the protocol from Transduction Laboratories) was used. All buffers contained protease inhibitors and orthovanadate (100 µM) as described previously (45, 48).
Immunoprecipitation of STAT3 proteins was conducted using rabbit anti-STAT3 pAb C20 or rabbit anti-PY-STAT3 pAb in immunoprecipitation buffer that included 0.5% Triton X-100 and 0.1% SDS essentially as previously described (49).
Western blot analyses for STAT proteins
Western blot procedures used were according to the protocol provided by Transduction Laboratories and the ECL detection kit (Amersham International, Aylesbury, U.K.). When comparing whole cell extracts, aliquots containing equal total protein amounts in the range 30 to 40 µg (Bio-Rad Micro Assay) were loaded in each lane of particular Western blots. In analyzing immunoprecipitates, the entire sample was Western blotted.
Transient transfection experiments
The chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter construct designated pßFibCAT (41), which contains two copies of the 36-bp IL-6 response element from the rat ß-fibrinogen promoter (from -168 to -134), was a gift from Dr. Heinz Baumann (50). Transient transfections of pßFibCAT (10 µg/culture) using the calcium phosphate method into 100-mm cultures of Hep3B and Hep3B-derived cell lines together with the plasmid pRSVßgal (5 µg/culture) as a marker for transfection efficiency and assays for IL-6 responsiveness of the CAT reporter construct were conducted, each in duplicate, as described previously (41, 51). ß-Galactosidase activity in the cell extracts was used as the basis for normalization of CAT assay data.
DNA gel-shift assays
Nuclear extracts for assays of DNA binding activity were
prepared essentially as described previously (45, 48), and
STAT-specific DNA binding activity was assayed using a
IFN-
-activated site, double-stranded DNA element from the IFN
response factor-1 promoter (top strand,
5'-gatcGATTTCCCCGAAATcgagatc-3'; lowercase letters are linkers) that
yields the typical pattern of A, B, and C complexes in gel-shift assays
corresponding to STAT3 homodimer, STAT1/3 heterodimer, and STAT1
homodimer, respectively (5, 45, 48).
Additional reagents
Human IL-6 (Escherichia coli derived) was a
gift from Sandoz (East Hanover, NJ). The inhibitor PD98059 was
purchased from BioMol Research Laboratories (Plymouth Meeting, PA);
U-73122 and U-73342 were obtained from Calbiochem-Novabiochem (La
Jolla, CA), and D609, okadaic acid, and calyculin A were purchased from
Alexis (San Diego, CA). Rabbit anti-peptide Abs against
phospholipase C (PLC) types ß1, ß2,
ß3, ß4,
1,
2,
and
2 for Western blotting were purchased from Santa
Cruz Biotechnology.
Statistical evaluation
Students t test (two-tailed) was used for statistical evaluation.
| Results |
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We have previously observed that compared with the parental
p53-free Hep3B cells, which responded equally well to IL-6 at both 37
and 32.5°C in terms of the cytokine-elicited increase in the
synthesis and secretion of Bß-fibrinogen and
1-antichymotrypsin, the
p53-Val135-containing cell lines had a reduced response to
IL-6 at 32.5°C (41). Table I
extends
these previous observations to the level of the IL-6 response of the
ß-fibrinogen reporter construct (pßFibCAT) in transient
transfection assays. The IL-6 inducibility of a reporter construct
containing two copies of the 36-bp IL-6-responsive element from the
ß-fibrinogen promoter is significantly reduced in cells first
transfected at 37°C and then shifted to 32.5°C for 1 day provided
that the cells expressed p53-Val135 (Line 1 in Table I
is
an example). Consistent with our previous data (41), the parental Hep3B
cells did not display a significant ts phenotype with respect to the
inducibility of the ß-fibrinogen promoter construct. Because the
36-bp enhancer DNA element in pßFibCAT contains the IL-6-responsive
STAT binding motifs, the data in Table I
suggested the possibility that
the reduced responsiveness of p53-Val135-containing cells
at the wt p53 temperature may be the result of a modulation of
IL-6-induced JAK-STAT cell signaling. In investigating possible
alterations in cytoplasm to nuclear translocation of IL-6-activated
transcription factors in these cells at the two temperatures, we
observed that IL-6-induced a marked loss of both cytoplasmic and
nuclear immunofluorescence of STAT3 and STAT5 transcription factors,
but without a commensurate degradation of these proteins, a cellular
process we termed STAT-masking (45).
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All 11 p53-Val135-containing Hep3B cell lines,
but none of the seven pSVneo-containing control cell lines, incubated
at 32.5°C for 1 day and then exposed to IL-6 for 30 min displayed a
marked loss of STAT3 and STAT5 immunostaining. Figure 1
A illustrates the dependence
of the loss of STAT3 immunostaining on IL-6 concentration in one such
p53-Val135-containing cell line (Line 1); a detectable loss
occurred at 1 ng/ml, and the loss was near maximal at 30 ng/ml. This
IL-6 concentration dependence parallels the concentration dependence of
the ability of IL-6 to induce acute phase plasma protein synthesis in
hepatoma cells (5, 41). Figure 1
B illustrates the time
course of the loss of STAT3 and STAT5 immunostaining in Line 1 cells
treated with IL-6 at a concentration of 30 ng/ml. The loss of STAT3 and
STAT5 immunostaining was near maximal by 20 to 30 min, but was
transient, in that STAT3 and STAT5 immunostaining was restored by 120
to 240 min. This time course parallels the activation of STAT3 and
STAT5 in hepatoma cells to generate DNA-binding competent transcription
factors and the subsequent decline by 2 to 4 h of activated STAT3
and STAT5 (3, 4, 5, 6, 7). The loss of STAT3 cytoplasmic and nuclear
immunostaining upon IL-6 treatment was observed using 1) an
anti-peptide mAb to the amino-terminal 1 to 175 residues of STAT3,
2) a polyclonal anti-peptide STAT3 Ab to the carboxyl-terminal 750
to 769 residues in the STAT3 molecule, and 3) a polyclonal
anti-PY-STAT3 Ab to the carboxyl-terminal phosphopeptide
corresponding to residues 701 to 709 (Fig. 1
C). It is
noteworthy that 1) the same secondary Ab was used in assays in Figure 1
C using the anti-STAT3 pAb and the anti-PY-STAT3
pAb; and 2) in additional control experiments, immunofluorescence due
to anti-STAT3 pAb was inhibited by the cognate synthetic peptide
used to produce this pAb but not by an irrelevant peptide (data not
shown), thus verifying the specificity of the immunofluorescence data
illustrated. Although cytoplasm to nuclear translocation of
Tyr-P-containing STAT3 was clearly verified in Line 1 cells at 37°C
using the anti-PY-STAT3 Ab, a considerable pool of Tyr-P-containing
STAT3 remained cytoplasmic (Fig. 1
C, compare with Fig. 6
).
The monoclonal and polyclonal anti-STAT3 Abs both also showed
evidence of some nuclear translocation of STAT3 in IL-6-treated Line 1
cells at 37°C (Fig. 1
C, left side),
although the major immunofluorescence remained cytoplasmic in these
Hep3B cells at all times (compare with Fig. 6
and see comment in
Discussion).
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, -ß, or -
; or Sp1 transcription factors using the same
secondary Abs as those used in Figure 1Acquisition of the STAT-masking phenotype by p53-Val135-containing Hep3B cells
IL-6-induced STAT-masking was not elicited in Line 1 cells
incubated throughout at 37°C (Fig. 2
A).
STAT-masking was elicited in only those Line 1 cells that had been
incubated at 32.5°C for 20 h and not in those incubated at the
wt-like p53 temperature (32.5°C) for either 5 or 10 h (Fig. 2
A). As the simplest possibility, the data suggest a
need to accumulate a wt p53-induced gene product(s) during the 20-h
incubation at 32.5°C before the STAT-masking phenotype can be
elicited by IL-6. As an alternative possibility, the
p53-Val135 mutant may exhibit a gain-in-function phenotype
at 32.5°C not seen with wt p53 (42). Once this hypothetical
p53-Val135-dependent gene product has accumulated in the
cells at 32.5°C for 18 to 20 h, the cells could be shifted to
37°C for 30 min, and the STAT-masking phenotype could be fully
elicited at 37°C upon IL-6 addition (Fig. 2
B).
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Figure 3
A shows that
neither IL-6, IFN-
, nor epidermal growth factor elicited loss of
STAT1 immunostaining. STAT3-masking was observed with IL-6 and to a
lesser extent with IFN-
, but not with epidermal growth factor;
STAT5-masking was observed with only IL-6 (Fig. 3
A).
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To identify the biochemical events underlying IL-6-induced STAT-masking, we examined the effects of a panel of inhibitors that block cell signaling pathways activated by IL-6. In these experiments, the inhibitors were added either 30 min before IL-6 to examine the effect of the inhibitor on the onset of STAT-masking or 30 min after the addition of IL-6 to examine the effect of the inhibitor on the continued maintenance of STAT-masking.
We have previously shown that addition of the tyrosine (Tyr) kinase inhibitors genistein and staurosporine, but not the serine (Ser) kinase inhibitor H7, to Line 1 cultures 30 min before IL-6 blocked STAT-masking, indicating a requirement for Tyr kinase activity in the onset of STAT-masking (45). Genistein and staurosporine added 30 min after the onset of STAT-masking did not affect the maintenance or the slow reversal of STAT-masking (data not shown), suggesting that continued Tyr kinase activity was not required for maintaining STAT-masking. Additionally, the proteasomal inhibitors MG132 and lactacystin blocked the onset, but not the maintenance, of STAT-masking (45) (data not shown).
Both orthovanadate and pervanadate, which inhibit protein Tyr
phosphatases (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57), blocked the onset of IL-6-induced
STAT3-masking (Fig. 3
B) as well as that of STAT5
(data not shown). However, neither orthovanadate nor pervanadate added
30 min after IL-6 (i.e., after STAT-masking was established) affected
the kinetics of reversal of STAT-masking that occur by 2 to 4 h
(as in Fig. 1
B). In comparison, okadaic acid and
calyculin A, which inhibit Ser-threonine phosphatases, each used at 100
nM, did not affect the onset or the maintenance of IL-6-induced
STAT-masking (data not shown). These phosphatase inhibitor data are
consistent with the possibility that recruitment of protein Tyr
phosphatase(s) to Tyr-P-containing STAT3 and STAT5 may be involved in
the production of a STAT-masking complex in
p53-Val135-containing cells.
The involvement of a Ser phosphorylation (Ser-P) reaction in mediating
IL-6-induced STAT-masking is suggested by the ability of PD98059, a
selective inhibitor of mitogen-activated kinase kinase 1 (MAPKK1/MEK)
(58), to block the onset of STAT-masking (Fig. 3
B).
The inability of the Ser kinase inhibitor H7 to block IL-6-induced
STAT-masking (45) despite the ability of PD98059 to block STAT-masking
suggests that IL-6-induced Ser-P of STAT proteins may itself occur
through multiple pathways, not all of which are blocked by H7.
Involvement of a phosphatidylinositol-specific PLC (PI-PLC) in IL-6-induced STAT-masking
The data in Figure 2
indicated that IL-6-induced STAT-masking
required accumulation of an induced gene product(s) that accumulated in
p53-Val135-containing cells over a period of 18 to
20 h. A recent report has described the increased accumulation of
PLC-ß4 in p53-Val135-containing myeloid M1 cells
incubated at the wt p53 temperature (32.5°C) (59). In contrast to
observations in p53-Val135-containing M1 cells, no
increases in the cellular content of PLC-ß1,
-ß3, -ß4, -
1, or
-
2 were detected in Western blot analyses of total
cellular extracts of p53-Val135-containing Hep3B cell lines
incubated at 32.5°C for 18 to 20 h compared with those incubated
continuously at 37°C (data not shown).
Because IL-6-type cytokines are known to cause Tyr-P and activation of
PLC-
including the physical association between gp130 and PLC-
(60), we investigated the role of IL-6-triggered PLC-mediated signaling
in STAT-masking. We examined the effect on IL-6-induced STAT-masking of
U-73122, an inhibitor of the agonist-coupled PI-PLC pathway (61, 62),
and compared it to that of U-73342, an inactive congener of U-73122
(61, 62), and to that of D609, an inhibitor of phosphatidylcholine- and
phosphatidylethanolamine-specific PLC and of phospholipase D activities
(63). Figure 4
A shows that
IL-6-induced STAT3- and STAT5b-maskings were blocked in Line 1 cells
treated with U-73122 30 min before IL-6. Remarkably, U-73122 added 30
min after elicitation of STAT-masking, was able to rapidly unmask the
masked state (Fig. 4
A), suggesting a requirement for
continued PI-PLC signaling to maintain STAT-masking. In comparison,
neither the inactive congener U-73342 nor D609 affected the onset of
IL-6-induced STAT-masking nor its maintenance (Fig. 4
B). By Western blotting, the cellular levels of
STAT3 and STAT5b proteins remained unchanged throughout the masking
elicited by IL-6 and its reversal by U-73122 as in Figure 4
(data not
shown).
|
Reduced DNA binding capacity of Tyr-phosphorylated STAT3 during STAT-masking
The reduced responsiveness to IL-6 of Line 1 cells cultured at the
wt p53 temperature (45) (Table I
) suggested that there might be a
reduction in the level of STAT3 DNA binding activity in nuclear
extracts of cells during STAT-masking. This possibility was
investigated by preparing cytoplasmic and nuclear extracts from Hep3B
cells and from Line 1 cells induced with IL-6 at the two temperatures
and assaying for DNA-binding-competent STAT3 in such extracts.
Figure 5
A shows that in
replicate experiments there was a clear reduction in the level of STAT3
DNA binding activity in nuclear extracts prepared from Line 1 cells
induced with IL-6 at 32.5°C compared with those derived from cells
incubated at 37°C when assayed 30 min after cytokine addition. In
comparison, the activation of STAT1 DNA binding activity by IFN-
was
unaffected at the two temperatures in such cells, and a ts phenotype
was not observed when the parental Hep3B cells were induced with IL-6
at the two temperatures (data not shown). Furthermore, the data in
Figure 5
B and the quantitative evaluation of replicate
experiments included in Figure 5
B, suggest that the rapid
reversal of STAT3 masking upon addition of the PI-PLC inhibitor
U-73122, but not its inactive congener U-73422, is also accompanied by
an increase in STAT3 DNA binding activity in the nuclear compartment
when assayed 60 min after IL-6 addition.
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The reduction in levels of STAT3 DNA binding activity assayed at 30 min
during STAT-masking (Fig. 5
A) are in dramatic
contrast to the marked increases in Tyr-P-containing STAT3 in both the
cytoplasmic and nuclear compartments during STAT-masking (Fig. 6
). To
evaluate the state of Tyr-P of STAT3 during STAT-masking, Line 1 cells
cultured at either 37 or 32.5°C were treated with IL-6 for different
lengths of time, and cytoplasmic and nuclear fractions were prepared.
STAT3 proteins were immunoprecipitated with anti-STAT3 pAb or
anti-PY-STAT3 pAb using a buffer containing 0.5% Triton X-100 and
0.1% SDS (to overcome immunologic masking), followed by SDS-PAGE and
Western blotting using an anti-STAT3 mAb (Fig. 6
). The top
panel in Figure 6
A shows undiminished cytoplasmic
levels of STAT3 in all lanes at all times, indicating that the fraction
of STAT3 that translocates from the cytoplasm to the nucleus in these
cells is small. It is clear from the data in Figure 6
, A and
B, that not only did Tyr-phosphorylated STAT3 proteins
(91-kDa STAT3 and 84-kDa STAT3ß) accumulate in the cytoplasmic and
nuclear compartments of Line 1 cells during STAT3-masking, but there
was also an increase and a prolongation in the accumulation of
Tyr-P-containing STAT3 proteins during STAT3-masking. While at 37°C,
peak levels of Tyr-phosphorylated STAT3 were observed in both the
cytoplasmic and nuclear compartments at 30 min, with a rapid decline by
60 min, considerable levels of Tyr-phosphorylated STAT3 were observed
in the cytoplasmic and nuclear compartments under masking conditions
(i.e., at 32.5°C) at both 30 and 60 min after cytokine addition.
IL-6-induced Tyr-P of STAT3ß at 60 and 120 min is also evident in the
cytoplasmic compartment to equivalent levels at both temperatures, as
is the IL-6-induced Tyr and Ser-P of STAT3ß (the appearance of an
IL-6-induced doublet of STAT3ß in Fig. 6
B, lower
panel).
Overall, the most dramatic aspect of the data in Figure 6
is the
paradoxical result that even though there is no STAT3 DNA binding
activity in the cytoplasmic compartment and there is a reduction in
peak STAT3 DNA binding activity in the nuclear compartment (Fig. 5
A), there is a clear increase in the accumulation of
Tyr-P-containing STAT3 in these compartments during STAT-masking. Thus,
STAT-masking is indicative of a novel p53-dependent cellular process
that regulates the DNA binding capacity of Tyr-phosphorylated STAT3
proteins.
| Discussion |
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In Figure 1
C the same goat anti-rabbit IgG was used as
the secondary Ab together with the anti-STAT3 pAb or the
anti-PY-STAT3 pAb. The specificity of the immunofluorescence assay
shown in Figure 1
C is verified by the strong cytoplasmic
staining observed using anti-STAT3 pAb (which could be inhibited by
the cognate but not by irrelevant synthetic peptide) but only weak
cytoplasmic staining using anti-PY-STAT3 in control untreated
cells. Upon addition of IL-6 at 37°C, the anti-PY-STAT3 pAb
showed a marked increase in both cytoplasmic and nuclear immunostaining
(Fig. 1
C). In contrast, the anti-STAT3 pAb and
the anti-STAT3 mAb showed only a minor, but detectable, nuclear
translocation in IL-6-treated cells at 37°C (Fig. 1
C, left side). It is important to
emphasize that in contrast to the immunofluorescence observations for
STAT1 in IFN-
-treated human fibroblasts (3), translocation of STAT
proteins from the cytoplasm to the nucleus usually involves only a
minor fraction of the pool of cytoplasmic STAT proteins (52) (also see
Fig. 6
). Even in IFN-
-induced fibroblasts, when metabolically
labeled STAT1 was followed, at most 10 to 20% of cytoplasmic STAT1 was
translocated to the nucleus (52).
The closest analogy to IL-6-induced STAT-masking, although in
reverse, is the unmasking of p65 (Rel-A) immunofluorescence upon
kainate-induced activation of NF-
B through the glutamate receptor in
cultures of rat cerebellar granule cells provided that the
immunostaining was assayed using an anti-peptide mAb to the nuclear
localization sequence in p65 (64). The nuclear localization signal in
p65 is complexed with I-
B
and is therefore immunologically
inaccessible in the inactive state (reviewed in Refs. 6467).
A functional consequence of STAT-masking is impaired responsiveness of
the wt p53-containing hepatoma Hep3B cells to IL-6. This impairment has
now been demonstrated at the level of transient transfection assays
using the ß-fibrinogen reporter construct (pßFibCAT), at the level
of a reduction in the pool of DNA-binding-competent STAT3 in the
nuclear compartment, and at the level of a reduced synthesis and
secretion of IL-6-induced ß-fibrinogen and of
1-antichymotrypsin.
Despite reduced peak levels of DNA-binding-competent STAT3 in the nuclear compartment during IL-6-induced STAT-masking, there was increased and prolonged accumulation of Tyr-P (and Ser-P)-containing STAT3-proteins in the nuclear compartment, suggesting an inhibition of STAT3-PY-specific Tyr phosphatase activity during STAT-masking. The hypothesis that an inhibitor of STAT-PY-specific Tyr phosphatase may regulate IL-2-induced JAK1/3-STAT5 signaling has been suggested (68) based upon the observation that the proteasomal inhibitor MG132 prolonged Tyr-P-STAT5 accumulation in the nuclear compartment. We have previously reported that MG132 could partially block the reduction in STAT3 DNA binding activity during IL-6-induced STAT masking (45).
The ability of orthovanadate and pervanadate to block IL-6-induced STAT-masking suggests the recruitment of SH2 domain-containing protein Tyr phosphatases in the onset, but not in the maintenance, of STAT-masking. Several SH2-domain-containing proteins that regulate cytokine signaling have been recently described. As one example, a family of at least 15 SH2-domain-containing proteins, called signal regulatory proteins, that associate with Tyr-phosphorylated (i.e., activated) protein-Tyr phosphatases, such as SHP-1 and -2, and with adapter proteins such as Grb2 to inhibit growth-factor dependent Tyr kinase-dependent signaling has been characterized recently (69). A family of 20- to 25-kDa SH2 domain-containing, IL-6-inducible STAT3 inhibitory proteins has been recently characterized (70, 71, 72). Suppressor of cytokine signaling-1 inhibits both IL-6-induced receptor and STAT3 Tyr-P (70, 71, 72). In as much as Tyr-P of STAT3 is undiminished and prolonged during IL-6 STAT-masking in wt p53-containing Hep3B cells, the data suggest that suppressor of cytokine signaling-1 or its family members are not involved in STAT-masking. Additionally, Fiscella and colleagues (73) have characterized a protein phosphatase, designated Wip1, that is wt p53 dependent in its expression in irradiated cells. The possibility that a wt p53-inducible protein Tyr phosphatase may participate in IL-6-induced STAT-masking is intriguing. Very recently, Chung and colleagues (74) have described a protein designated PIAS3 that associates with Tyr-P-containing STAT3 and inhibits its DNA binding competence without affecting its Tyr-P status. The involvement of PIAS3 in STAT-masking remains to be investigated.
Both the onset and the maintenance of IL-6-induced STAT-masking are
dependent upon receptor-coupled PLC signaling (Fig. 4
). A requirement
for PI-PLC signaling in the onset of STAT-masking may reflect novel
IL-6-induced gp130-mediated PLC activation and the intracellular
signaling pathway (75). Indeed, the rapid reversal within 15 to 20 min
of already established STAT-masking by U-73122, an inhibitor of
agonist receptor-coupled PI-PLC activity, but by no other inhibitor
tested, provides additional evidence for the involvement of a novel
IL-6R-coupled PI-PLC pathway in the regulation of JAK-STAT signaling
and STAT-masking.
The identification of the p53-Val135-dependent proteins
involved in STAT-masking and the elucidation of their physiologic
function represent an exciting challenge (Fig. 7
). In preliminary
experiments we have detected high molecular mass sedimentable complexes
of STAT3 in the postmitochondrial cytoplasmic extracts of Line 1 cells
during STAT-masking using the procedure of zonal centrifugation through
sucrose density gradients. The characterization of proteins associated
with STAT3 in these sedimentable complexes produced during STAT-masking
is likely to provide insights into this new p53-dependent cellular
process.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Pravin B. Sehgal, Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Basic Science Building, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY 10595. ![]()
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: JAK, Janus kinase; wt, wild-type; ts, temperature-sensitive; PY, phosphotyrosine; CAT, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase; PLC, phospholipase C; Tyr-P, tyrosine phosphorylation; Ser-P, serine phosphorylation; MAPKK1/MEK, mitogen-activated kinase kinase 1; PI-PLC, phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C; SH2, src homology domain. ![]()
Received for publication November 20, 1997. Accepted for publication March 6, 1998.
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