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-Induced Anti-Viral and Growth Signaling Pathways1


Departments of
*
Immunology and
Microbiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905; and
Department of Biology and Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287
| Abstract |
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to induce an anti-viral state in a wide
variety of cell types as well as to inhibit cellular growth has long
been appreciated. It is less clear, however, whether both these effects
lie downstream of a common signaling pathway. In this study we have
taken advantage of an atypical human myeloma cell line (KAS-6/1)
displaying a dramatic proliferative response to IFN-
in an effort to
resolve the signaling requirements for IFN-
-induced anti-viral
and growth regulatory effects. Thus, we have analyzed the ability of
IFN-
to induce a number of known receptor-initiated events in this
cell line and have compared these responses with those exhibited by a
cell lineage- and maturation stage-matched myeloma cell line (ANBL-6)
that displays typical IFN-
responsiveness. Despite the widely
contrasting effects of IFN-
on cellular proliferation, IFN-
was
shown to be comparable in its ability to induce the expression of early
response genes as well as induce resistance to viral infection in both
cell lines. By contrast, the effects of IFN-
on the activation of
mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) were strikingly distinct.
Finally, although inhibition of MEK and MAPK activation had no effect
on the induction of the anti-viral response, it completely blocked
IFN-
-stimulated proliferation of the KAS-6/1 cells. In summary, our
analysis of the role of the MAPK and anti-viral signaling pathways
using these two cell lines suggests that the anti-viral and growth
regulatory effects of IFN-
display a differential requirement for
activation of the MAPK pathway. | Introduction |
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is commonly used as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of several
malignancies, including multiple myeloma, because of its known
anti-proliferative effects 1, 2, 3 . The effects of IFN-
are
mediated by ligand binding to the type I IFN receptor
(IFNAR)3 complex. This
receptor complex is composed of at least two subunits: the
and ß
subunits (reviewed in 4 . The ß subunit (IFNAR2) has been shown
to bind ligand, and the
subunit (IFNAR1) is required for the
formation of high affinity receptors 5 . Both subunits undergo rapid
ligand-dependent tyrosine phosphorylation, and the
subunit itself
acts as a species-specific transducer for type I IFN action 6 .
The lack of inherent kinase activity in these receptors is overcome
through receptor-associated kinases of the Janus kinase (JAK) family.
Thus, IFN-
binding to its receptor triggers the rapid tyrosine
phosphorylation of two members of the JAK kinase family, JAK1 and TYK2.
These activated kinases subsequently mediate the tyrosine
phosphorylation of both receptor subunits 7 . TYK2 and JAK1 kinases
directly interact with the
and ß subunits of the IFN-
receptor, respectively. IFN-
binding to its receptor also results in
JAK kinase-mediated phosphorylation and activation of latent
cytoplasmic transcription factors that function as STATs reviewed in
Refs. 8, 9 . The phosphorylated factors, STAT1 and STAT2, along with
a third component, p48, form a complex, IFN-stimulated gene factor-3,
which activates transcription of IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs) through
binding interactions with IFN-stimulated response elements (ISREs) in
ISG promoters 10, 11, 12 . The end result of this pathway, therefore, is
the expression of genes that mediate multiple biological activities.
At least 30 genes are known to be transcriptionally induced by type I
IFNs including 2',5'-oligoadenylate (2'-5'A) synthetase, class I HLA
molecules, and the IFN-responsive factor-1 (IRF-1) transcription factor
(reviewed in 9 . For example, 2'-5'A synthetase is important for
the anti-viral response, and its activity is required by cells to
activate an endonuclease, RNase L, that degrades RNA 13, 14 . Indeed,
lack of induction of 2'-5'A synthetase is observed to correlate with
the inability of IFN-
to generate antiviral responses in
IFN-
-resistant cell lines 15, 16 .
Cell lines resistant to the anti-viral effects of IFN-
are also
usually resistant to the growth regulatory effects of IFN-
,
suggesting that these two responses are coordinately regulated
downstream of a common signaling pathway. In this regard, the JAK-STAT
signaling pathway has been implicated in mediating both the
anti-proliferative and anti-viral effects of IFN-
. The
evidence for this conclusion is twofold. First, the induction of ISGs
and an anti-viral response is defective in JAK1 and STAT1 knockout
mice 17, 18 . Second, in studies using IFNAR1 mutant mice,
JAK-STAT-dependent signaling appears to be required for both
anti-proliferative and anti-viral responses 18 .
Although the JAK-STAT pathway is clearly important, a number of recent
studies suggest that additional signaling pathways may also be
important for IFN-
-dependent biological responses. The
Ras-Raf-MEK-MAPK signaling pathway has been shown to be activated
downstream of a variety of growth factors and cytokine receptors and
has frequently been associated with mitogenesis (reviewed in 19 .
Given the typical anti-proliferative effects of IFNs, it is
interesting, therefore, that both type I and type II IFNs have recently
been shown to stimulate Raf-1 and MAPK activation in a JAK1-dependent,
but Ras-independent, manner 20, 21 . The cross-talk between the
JAK-STAT and MAPK pathways in IFN signaling is further demonstrated by
observations that IFN-ß stimulation results in MAPK activation and
its direct association with STAT1 as revealed in coimmunoprecipitation
studies 22 . Furthermore, in the same study expression of a dominant
negative form of MAPK inhibited induction of a STAT-regulated ISG15
ISRE reporter construct. In other reports IFN-
has also been shown
to activate phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI-3K), and treatment of
cells with wortmannin appears to inhibit type I IFN-regulated MAPK
activation 23 . Thus, there is increasing evidence to suggest the
existence of alternative signaling pathways downstream from the type I
IFN receptor. The roles that these pathways play in IFN-
-stimulated
anti-viral and growth regulatory effects is unclear.
Previous studies in our laboratory have described the establishment of
a human myeloma cell line, KAS-6/1, which displays nonclassical IFN-
responsiveness. Thus, the KAS-6/1 cell line displays a proliferative
response to IFN-
, whereas three additional cell lines are growth
arrested by IFN-
24 . This system, therefore, provides a novel
means to assess the potential link(s) between JAK-STAT activation and
other signaling pathways as well as the roles of these pathways in
IFN-
-regulated cellular growth and induction of anti-viral
activity. Our results show that the MEK-MAPK signaling cascade plays a
critical role in mediating the mitogenic effects of IFN-
in KAS-6/1
cells, but not in mediating the anti-viral response. The
implication of these results, therefore, is that there is a
dissociation between the signaling requirements of the anti-viral
vs the growth regulatory effects of IFN-
.
| Materials and Methods |
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The myeloma cell lines ANBL-6 and KAS-6/1 were derived from
primary patient myeloma cells and have been previously described 24, 25 . The cell lines were maintained in RPMI 1640 supplemented with 5%
heat-inactivated FCS, 100 U/ml penicillin G, 50 µg/ml gentamicin, 100
µg/ml streptomycin, 2 mmol/l glutamine, and 1 ng/ml IL-6 (provided by
Immunex, Seattle, WA). Recombinant purified IFN-
2b (Schering,
Kenilworth, NJ) was used at the indicated concentrations. H7 and
wortmannin were purchased from Sigma (St. Louis, MO). PD098059 was
purchased from Research Biochemical International (Natick, MA). Dr.
Oscar Colamonici (University of Tennessee, Memphis, TN) provided mouse
mAbs to the IFNAR1 (designated IFNAR3) and IFNAR2 subunits (designated
IFNAR-ß1) of the IFN-
receptor 26 . Mouse mAbs for
immunoprecipitation of IFNAR1 (AA3 and GB8) were gifts from Biogen
(Cambridge, MA). The monomorphic anti-human class I Ab, w6/32, was
a gift from Dr. Larry Pease (Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN).
FITC-conjugated goat anti-mouse F(ab')2 was purchased
from BioSource (Camarillo, CA).
Proliferation assays
Before each assay, cells were washed three times with saline, resuspended in medium containing 0.5% BSA, and cultured in 96-well flat-bottom microtiter plates at an initial density of 2.5 x 104 cells/well in a final volume of 200 µl for 3 days. DNA synthesis was quantitated by [3H]thymidine uptake using previously described methodology 27 .
Immunofluorescence analysis
Cell surface staining was analyzed using previously described
methodology 27 . Briefly, cells (5 x 105) were
incubated with mAbs to the IFN-
receptor or HLA class I for 30 min
on ice, washed, and then incubated with FITC-conjugated goat
anti-mouse IgG for another 30 min on ice. The cells were then
washed, fixed with 1% paraformaldehyde, and analyzed for
immmunofluorescence on a FACS Vantage (Becton Dickinson, Mountain View,
CA). Mouse IgG1 and IgG2b (Becton Dickinson) were used as control Abs.
Collected data were analyzed using PCLYSIS software (Becton Dickinson).
Immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting
Myeloma cells were cultured in IL-6-free medium for 48 h
before IFN-
addition. Cells (0.51.0 x 107) were
then lysed in lysis buffer containing 50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.0), 100 mM
NaF, 10% glycerol, 0.1 mM EDTA, 200 mM NaCl, 0.5% Nonidet P-40, 1 mM
Na3VO4, 10 µg/ml leupeptin, 5 µg/ml
pepstatin, 1 mM DTT, 0.2 mM PMSF, and 5 µg/ml aprotinin for 30 min on
ice. For MAPK detection, 1% Triton was used as the detergent in the
lysis buffer. The lysates were cleared of insoluble material by
centrifugation for 10 min at 12,000 x g. For direct
immunoblot analysis, cell lysates containing 5075 µg of total
protein were resolved by electrophoresis through 7.5%
SDS-polyacrylamide gels and then transferred onto Immobilon-P membranes
(Millipore, Bedford, MA). For immunoprecipitation of IFNAR1, cell
lysates were first precleared with protein A-Sepharose (Pharmacia,
Uppsala, Sweden). A total of 500 µg of precleared lysates were
immunoprecipitated with 1 µg of AA3 anti-IFNAR1 Ab at 4°C for
2 h. The immune complexes were collected by adsorption to protein
A-Sepharose beads by overnight agitation at 4°C. The
immunoprecipitates were washed twice with lysis buffer and once with
cold PBS. The complexes were then boiled in 30 µl of 2x SDS sample
buffer and resolved on an SDS-PAGE gel followed by transfer to
Immobilon-P membranes. The membranes were blocked in 25 mM Tris-HCl (pH
7.2), 150 mM NaCl, and 0.05% Tween-20 supplemented with 2% BSA and
were subsequently probed with the indicated Abs. For reprobing the same
blot, the membranes were stripped with 7 M guanidine and then renatured
and blocked before immunoblotting with the indicated Abs.
Immunoreactive proteins were detected using an enhanced
chemiluminescence detection system (Amersham, Arlington Heights, IL).
2'-5'A synthetase assay
ANBL-6 and KAS-6/1 cells were maintained as described above and
then treated with diluent or 10, 100, or 1000 U of IFN-
for 24
h. Cellular extracts were prepared as described previously 28 and
stored at -70°C. Protein concentrations were determined using a
protein assay kit (Bio-Rad, Richmond, CA) based on the method of Lowry.
The 2'-5'A synthetase assay was performed essentially as described
previously 28 with minor modifications. Poly(rI)-poly(rC) agarose
(Pharmacia) was resuspended in 2'-5'A synthetase buffer (20 mm
HEPES-KOH (pH 7.4), 120 mM KOAc, 25 mM Mg(OAc)2, 2.5 mM
DTT, and 0.2% Triton X-100) and washed twice in that same buffer.
Binding reaction mixtures containing 4 µl of cellular extract and 20
µl of poly(rI)-poly(rC) agarose in a total volume of 40 µl were
incubated at 4°C for 6 h and then centrifuged at 10,000 x
g for 1 min. The supernatant was removed, and the pellet was
washed two more times with 300 µl of 2'-5'A synthetase buffer. The
reaction mixtures containing 3.3 mM [
-32P]ATP
(sp. act. = 10 mCi/mmol) and 3.3 µM poly(I)-poly(C) in 2'-5'A
synthetase buffer were incubated at 30°C for 18 h. The enzyme
was heat inactivated, and the products of the reaction were analyzed by
TLC as described previously. Autoradiography was used to identify the
positions of reaction products, and the spots corresponding to 2'-5'A
oligomers were excised and counted in a liquid scintillation counter.
Anti-viral assay
ANBL-6 and KAS-6/1 cells were treated with 500 U/ml of IFN-
for 24 h and then challenged with 1010 particles of
hCMV virus strain AD169 (American Type Culture Collection, Manassas,
VA). After 72 h, virus-infected cells were quantitated by indirect
fluorescence method using a CMV Brite kit (Biotest Diagnostics,
Danville, NJ).
In vitro kinase assay
Cells were lysed on ice in lysis buffer (50 mM HEPES (pH
7.4), 150 mM NaCl, 5 mM MgCl2, 5 mM EGTA, 1% Triton X-100,
1 mM DTT, 10 µg/ml leupeptin, 5 µg/ml pepstatin, 10 mM
ß-glycerophosphate, and 0.1 mM sodium orthovanadate) and
immunoprecipitated with MEK-1 Ab (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz,
CA) and protein A-Sepharose for 2 h. Immunoprecipitates were
washed twice with lysis buffer and twice with kinase buffer (20 mM
HEPES (pH 7.5), 2.5 mM EGTA, 1 mM DTT, 10 mM ß-glycerophosphate, 0.1
mM Na3VO4, and 10 mM MgCl2). The
kinase reaction was conducted for 30 min at 30°C in a reaction buffer
containing 1 µg/reaction GST-MAPK (kinase dead), 10 µCi of
[
-32P]ATP/reaction, and 20 µM cold ATP. SDS-PAGE
sample buffer was added, and proteins were eluted by boiling and
resolved by 7.5% SDS-PAGE. The phosphorylated substrate was detected
by autoradiography, and the counts per minute incorporated into
substrate were quantitated by phosphorimage analysis.
RT-PCR
Total RNA was isolated from cells using the TRIZOL reagent and reverse transcribed using a first-strand DNA synthesis kit (Pharmacia). PCR to detect message for 616, IRF-1, 2'-5'A synthetase, ISG15, and ß-actin was performed in the presence of 1.5 mM MgCl2, 1 mM dNTPs, 1 µM each of sense and antisense oligonucleotides, and 2.5 U of Taq DNA polymerase (Promega, Madison, WI). The primer sequences and their expected sizes are as follows: ß-actin: sense, 5'-GACTTCGAGCAAGAGATGGCCAC-3'; and antisense, 5'-CAATGCCAGGGTATGGTGGTG-3' (265 bp); 616: sense, 5'-CCTGCTGCTCTTCACTTGC-3'; and antisense, 5'-CCTCATCCTCCTCACTATCG-3' (352 bp); ISG15: sense, 5'-CCGTGAAGATGCTGGCG-3'; and antisense, 5'-CGAAGGTCAGCCAGAAC-3' (355 bp); IRF-1: sense, 5'-CGAAGTCCAGAGATG-3'; and antisense, 5'-CCTGGGCTGTCAATTTC-3' (461 bp); and 2'-5'A synthetase: sense, 5'-ATCAACAGTGCCAGA-3'; and antisense, 5'-GTCGTGAAGAGTGGTGC-3' (408 bp). Amplification of reverse-transcribed cDNA was performed for 30 cycles (denaturation at 95°C for 1 min, annealing at 60°C for 2 min, and extension at 72°C for 3 min). PCR products were visualized by electrophoresis on 2% agarose gels and staining with ethidium bromide.
| Results |
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Initial experiments examined the cell surface expression levels of
the IFN type I receptor components using mAbs specific for each
component. As shown in Fig. 1
A, both ANBL-6 and KAS-6/1
cell lines exhibited high expression levels of both
and ß
subunits of IFN type I receptor. No apparent differences in the density
of surface expression of either subunit could be observed using
these Abs.
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-stimulated cells, and
phosphorylation was assessed using a phosphotyrosine-specific mAb. As
shown in Fig. 1
stimulation resulted in tyrosine
phosphorylation of IFNAR1 in both IFN-
growth-inhibited ANBL-6 and
growth-stimulated KAS-6/1 cell lines. Furthermore, immunoprecipitation
using Abs specific for JAK1 and TYK2 kinases from both cell lines
demonstrated that IFN-
stimulated rapid induction of tyrosine
phosphorylation of these kinases in a similar manner (data not shown).
These results suggested that the differential responsiveness of ANBL-6
and KAS-6/1 cell lines to IFN-
did not result from differential
tyrosine phosphorylation of IFNAR1 or JAK kinases.
IFN-
induces similar expression of known ISGs in both cell lines
Using gel shift assays, IFN-
-stimulated activation of STAT1,
-2, and -3 in both cell lines was previously demonstrated 24 . To
assess the functional role of IFN-
-dependent JAK kinase activation
in vivo, we next analyzed the induction of a variety of known ISGs. As
shown in Fig. 2
A, a 2-h
treatment of both ANBL-6 and KAS-6/1 cells with IFN-
induced
expression of mRNA for 616, ISG15, and IRF-1 ISGs. However, no
changes in ß-actin mRNA expression were observed under the same
conditions. We also assayed the effects of IFN-
on HLA class I
induction by flow cytometry using a monomorphic HLA class I Ab, w6/32.
As shown in Fig. 2
B, IFN-
treatment of both ANBL-6 and
KAS-6/1 cells for 24 h resulted in an increase in HLA class I
expression. Moreover, IFN-
treatment resulted in a comparable
increase in class I expression in both cell lines (2.5- vs 2.0-fold
induction in ANBL-6 and KAS-6/1 cells, respectively).
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in both
growth-inhibited and growth-stimulated cell lines
Anti-proliferative responses to IFN-
are frequently accompanied
by the induction of anti-viral responses. These responses correlate
with enhanced expression of another ISG, 2'-5'A synthetase 13, 16 .
Therefore, we next examined the ability of IFN-
to induce the
enzymatic activity of 2'-5'A synthetase in IFN-
growth-inhibited
ANBL-6 and growth-stimulated KAS-6/1 cells. Both cell lines displayed
an increase in the activity of 2'-5'A synthetase upon IFN-
stimulation (Fig. 3
). However, the ANBL-6
cells showed a greater induction (10-fold) of 2'-5'A synthetase
activity than the KAS-6/1 cells (5-fold) at low doses of IFN-
(10
U/ml).
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treatment results in resistance to hCMV infection despite
the differential growth responsiveness of ANBL-6 and KAS-6/1 cells
In an effort to extend the results shown in Fig. 3
, we next
assayed the ability of IFN-
to induce an anti-viral response in
ANBL-6 and KAS-6/1 cells. For these experiments, the ability of IFN-
to provide protection against hCMV infection of these myeloma cell
lines was studied. As shown in Table I
,
both ANBL-6 and KAS-6/1 cell lines were protected against hCMV virus
infection by IFN-
. In contrast, cells without IFN-
pretreatment
showed no protection against hCMV infection. These results suggest that
there is a dissociation between the anti-viral effects of IFN-
and its effects on growth regulation.
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stimulates MAPK activation in KAS-6/1 cells
In addition to activation of the JAK-STAT signaling cascade,
several recent reports have demonstrated that IFN-
stimulation
causes activation of MAPK, and this may occur in a JAK1-dependent and
Ras-independent manner 19, 20 . To determine whether this signaling
pathway was also activated in the ANBL-6 and KAS-6/1 cells, we next
analyzed MAPK activation using Abs that detect the active
phosphorylated forms of both ERK1 and ERK2. As shown in Fig. 4
, the two cell lines differed
dramatically when IFN-
was assessed for its ability to induce MAPK
activation. Thus, whereas IFN-
rapidly induced the appearance of
both phospho-ERK1 and phospho-ERK2 in the KAS-6/1 cells (Fig. 4
A), IFN-
had virtually no effect on MAPK activation in
the ANBL-6 cells (Fig. 4
B). By contrast, IL-6, a known
growth factor for these cells, was fully capable of stimulating MAPK
activation in the ANBL-6 cells (Fig. 4
C). Reprobing for ERK1
and ERK2 showed that both cell lines express the ERK2 isoform
predominantly. In experiments not shown, when MEK activation was
assessed in vitro using a kinase-dead GST-MAPK fusion protein, similar
results were obtained. Thus, IFN-
stimulated an eightfold induction
in MEK activity over unstimulated cells, whereas it was essentially
without effect on the ANBL-6 cells.
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-dependent proliferation of the KAS-6/1 cell line
The results described above indicated that IFN-
increased
phosphorylation of ERK1 and ERK2 in KAS-6/1 cells but not in ANBL-6
cells. These results suggested that the divergent IFN-
responses
displayed by the two cell lines may, therefore, result from
differential activation of the MAPK signaling pathway. Because the data
shown in Table I
also suggested that the cell lines are comparably
rendered resistant to viral infection by IFN-
, the results
collectively suggest a dissociation between the anti-viral and
growth signaling pathways. To begin to address this possibility in
greater detail, we next studied the effect of specific inhibitors of
signaling pathways on IFN-stimulated thymidine uptake in KAS-6/1 cells.
As shown in Fig. 5
A, the
serine-threonine kinase inhibitor H7, had no effect on
IFN-
-dependent thymidine uptake in KAS-6/1 and ANBL-6 cells. This
inhibitor has been shown by other investigators to disrupt the JAK-STAT
signaling pathway downstream of the IFNAR and gp130-linked receptors
29, 30 . In Fig. 5
B, it may also be seen that wortmannin,
when used at concentrations that result in specific inhibition of
PI-3K, did not alter the effects of IFN-
on the proliferation of
either cell line. However, pretreatment of KAS-6/1 cells with a
specific inhibitor of MEK, PD098059, resulted in complete inhibition of
IFN-
-mediated proliferation in a dose-dependent manner (Fig. 5
C). By contrast, this inhibitor was without any effect on
IFN-
-mediated growth inhibitory responses in the ANBL-6 cell line
(Fig. 5
C). To verify that PD098059 was indeed inhibiting MEK
activity, two experimental approaches were employed. First, we
determined the ability of PD098059 to block MEK activation in
IFN-
-stimulated KAS-6/1 cells. As shown in Fig. 6
A, IFN-
stimulated a
dramatic increase in MEK activity when assayed after a 15-min
stimulation. Of note, PD098059 completely inhibited this induction.
Second, we assessed the ability of PD098059 to block the appearance of
IFN-stimulated phospho-ERK1 and phospho-ERK2 (Fig. 6
B).
Again, IFN-
stimulated MAPK activation in the KAS-6/1 cells.
Although H7 was ineffective in inhibiting MAPK activation, PD098059 was
completely effective in this regard. In experiments not shown,
wortmannin was similarly found to be without effect on MAPK activation.
These results suggest, therefore, that activation of MAPK plays a
critical role in IFN-
-stimulated KAS-6/1 proliferation.
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-stimulated ISG induction or anti-viral responses
Because the results presented above demonstrated that IFN-
triggers an anti-viral response and a MAPK-dependent proliferative
response in the KAS-6/1 cells, we next wanted to determine whether
IFN-
-stimulated MAPK activation was required in the anti-viral
response. To address this question, we examined the effects of PD098059
and H7 on JAK-STAT signaling-dependent induction of ISGs, which
are known to be expressed during anti-viral responses. As shown in
Fig. 7
, IFN-
stimulated expression of
IRF-1 and 2'-5'A synthetase mRNA was inhibited by pretreatment of
ANBL-6 and KAS-6/1 cells with H7. By contrast, addition of PD098059 was
largely without effect on IFN-
-mediated induction of these genes in
both cell lines. Further analysis of IFN-
-stimulated anti-viral
responses showed that although H7 pretreatment did not interfere with
IFN-
-stimulated MAPK activation (Fig. 6
), H7 pretreatment
significantly blocked the IFN-
-mediated protective responses against
hCMV infection of both myeloma cell lines (Fig. 8
). Of interest, PD098059, which
inhibited IFN-
-stimulated MEK and MAPK activities in KAS-6/1 cells
(Fig. 6
, A and B), had no effect on
IFN-
-dependent resistance against hCMV infection in either cell
line. These results suggest that although IFN-
stimulates strong
activation of MAPK in the KAS-6/1 cells, this signaling pathway is not
essential for the anti-viral response.
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| Discussion |
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24 . In an effort to understand the
mechanisms of variable growth responsiveness, the experiments described
herein were designed to identify alternative signaling pathways
regulating these growth responses. Our analysis suggests that different
signaling pathways may mediate IFN-
-regulated mitogenic and
anti-viral responses.
Our studies first focused on the possibility that the differential
IFN-
responsiveness resulted from differences in IFN receptor
expression or activation of the proximal kinases. However, our results
demonstrated that ligand binding to the IFN-
receptor resulted in
similar ligand-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of the IFN-
receptor
as well as that of the receptor-associated kinases JAK1 and Tyk2. The
IFN type I receptor has been demonstrated to be a multichain complex in
which the
subunit can complex with either a truncated, short form
or a long form of the ß subunit 4 . The long form of the ß subunit
is required for the activation of both JAK1 and Tyk2 4, 5 . Although
our experiments have not directly addressed what form of the ß
subunit is expressed in these two cell lines, our observations that
both JAK1 and Tyk2 were activated following IFN-
stimulation suggest
that both cell lines express a functional long form of the ß subunit
of the type I IFN receptor.
We also analyzed the ability of IFN-
to induce a number of known
ISGs, particularly those known to be involved in the anti-viral
response. However, we again failed to detect any differences in the
induction of 616, ISG15, IRF-1, MHC class I, and 2'-5'A synthetase.
In another study 24 we have shown that IFN-
also stimulates the
DNA binding activity of IRF-1, a transcription factor with growth
inhibitory potential, in both growth-inhibited ANBL-6 and proliferating
KAS-6/1 cells. IFN-
also induces expression of an ISG that encodes
for protein kinase R, which has been shown to play a role in the growth
inhibition by down-regulating c-Myc expression 31 . However, our
analysis of c-Myc expression did not indicate any alteration in its
expression by IFN-
in the ANBL-6 and KAS-6/1 cell lines 32 . The
possibility remains, however, that other as yet to be identified ISGs
may be differentially induced in these cell lines. Induction of these
ISGs is mediated by binding of IFN-stimulated gene factor-3 to the
ISREs in the promoters of these genes. In this regard, we have
previously shown that STAT1 and STAT2 are activated in similar fashion
in both cell lines 24 . Also, treatment with H7 inhibited
IFN-
-dependent induction of IRF-1 and 2'-5'A synthetase as well as
increased the sensitivity to hCMV viral infection. H7, a
serine-threonine kinase inhibitor, has previously been shown to inhibit
IFN-
-dependent ISG induction and anti-viral responses 33 . It
is proposed to act by inhibiting serine phosphorylation of STAT1 and
STAT3 factors 30, 34 . All these observations further support our
conclusions that the JAK-STAT pathway is activated by IFN-
in
KAS-6/1 cells in a similar manner as in the growth-inhibited ANBL-6
cells and that it may support anti-viral responses in both cell
lines.
Results from mutant cell lines and receptor knockout models have
led to the understanding that a common receptor-initiated signaling
pathway is required for both anti-viral and anti-proliferative
responses 6, 16, 35 . Thus, because IFN-
did not induce an
anti-proliferative response in the KAS-6/1 cells, it was possible
that IFN-
would similarly be ineffective at inducing an
anti-viral response in these cells. However, our analysis
surprisingly revealed that anti-viral responses, as assayed by
measuring 2'-5'A synthetase activity and by the ability of IFN-
to
protect against hCMV viral infection, were induced in KAS-6/1 cells.
Thus, despite the contrasting growth responsiveness to IFN-
,
anti-viral responses were comparably induced in the ANBL-6 and
KAS-6/1 cells. Ghislain et al. 5 have suggested that low affinity
interactions of IFN-
with its receptor subunits are sufficient for
anti-viral responses. By contrast, high affinity interactions are
required for anti-proliferative responses, and these interactions
depend upon expression and function of the
subunit of IFN receptor.
Therefore, it is possible that the absence of an anti-proliferative
response in the KAS-6/1 cells could result from the lack of expression
of a functional
subunit of IFNAR. However, our analysis of IFNAR
expression revealed that the
subunit was expressed by both ANBL-6
(growth-arrested) and KAS-6/1 (growth-stimulated) cell lines and was
tyrosine phosphorylated following IFN-
stimulation. Collectively,
our data demonstrating comparable receptor expression, JAK/STAT
activation (this study and 24 , ISG induction, and induction of
anti-viral responses in two cell lines that differ dramatically
with respect to the growth regulatory effects of IFN-
strongly
suggest that the anti-viral and growth regulatory effects are
differentially regulated.
Several independent observations have also suggested that more than one
pathway may operate to transduce IFN-
signals. For example, the
differential responses of HeLa M and other HeLa cell lines to IFN-
suggest that alternative signaling pathways may exist for
IFN-
-mediated biological responses 36 . Our observations are
consistent with these studies and further suggest that within the same
cell, IFN-
binding may trigger more than one signaling pathway to
mediate different biological effects. Previously, it has been shown by
Petricoin et al. 37 that the anti-proliferative effects of
IFN-
in T cells require CD45 and ZAP-70. Consistent with the
knowledge that plasma cells typically lack CD45 expression, both the
myeloma cell lines studied in this report similarly lack expression of
CD45. This observation suggests that different mechanisms may be
operative in myeloma cells vs T cells. In addition, our analysis of
Syk, a member of the ZAP-70 family expressed by B-lineage
cells, failed to reveal an effect of IFN-
on Syk activity in either
growth-stimulated KAS-6/1 or growth-inhibited ANBL-6 cells (T. Arora
and D. F. Jelinek, unpublished observations). PI-3 kinase has also
been suggested to play a role in the stimulation of the JAK-STAT
signaling pathway by IFN-
23 . However, IFN-
did not stimulate
PI-3K activation in ANBL-6 and KAS-6/1 cells as measured by p85
tyrosine phosphorylation (T. Arora and D. F. Jelinek, unpublished
observations), nor did wortmannin alter IFN-
-regulated growth
responses. Finally, although an H7-sensitive kinase has been implicated
as being important in IFN responsiveness, H7 did not alter the growth
signaling properties of IFN-
. H7 was, however, effective at blocking
the anti-viral effects of IFN-
on KAS-6/1 cells and ANBL-6
cells, albeit to a lesser degree.
Our data clearly demonstrated that IFN-
stimulation
resulted in differential induction of the MAPK signaling pathway. Thus,
a strong induction of MEK and MAPK activity correlated with
IFN-
-stimulated proliferative responses in KAS-6/1 cells. Further,
our results demonstrated that this mitogenic signaling pathway does not
appear to be required for IFN-
-induced anti-viral responses in
KAS-6/1 cells. Overall, our data suggest that in the KAS-6/1 myeloma
cell line, strong activation of the MAPK signaling pathway may be the
predominant mechanism that underlies the atypical IFN-
-induced
growth response.
Our results differ from those of other studies that have suggested a
role for MAPK activation in IFN-mediated classical biological
responses. Thus, David et al. 22 have demonstrated that IFN-ß
binding to its receptor resulted in MAPK activation and
coimmunoprecipitation with STAT1 in cell lines that are growth
inhibited by IFN. Other reports have also suggested that serine
phosphorylation of STAT1 by MAPK results in enhanced expression of ISGs
by IFN 34 . Our results show that IFN-
is ineffective in
stimulating measurable MEK or MAPK activity in the growth-inhibited
ANBL-6 cells. These results suggest that MAPK activation can lead to
two different outcomes in gene transcription. Thus, strong activation
of the Ras-MAPK pathway may result in the activation of transcription
factors that play a role in mitogenic signaling. By contrast, weak MAPK
activation may be sufficient in mediating phosphorylation of STAT
factors that may be important in the anti-proliferative response
but may fail to trigger events necessary for cell cycle progression. In
this regard, we have previously shown that IFN-
induces expression
of the p19ink4D CDK inhibitor in ANBL-6 cells 38 . By contrast,
IFN-
treatment of KAS-6/1 cells resulted in the induction of cyclin
D2 expression within 6 h of stimulation in the absence of an
effect on p19ink4D expression. Therefore, it is possible that the
inability to strongly activate MAPK coupled with the expression of cell
cycle inhibitory proteins leads to an anti-proliferative response
in these cells, whereas strong activation of MAPK coupled with the
induction of cell cycle-promoting proteins result in growth stimulation
by IFN-
. It remains possible, therefore, that the strength and
duration of MAPK activation critically govern the differential
induction of cell cycle regulatory proteins by IFN-
and hence growth
responses in ANBL-6 and KAS-6/1 cells.
In conclusion, our results demonstrate that in type I IFN signaling in
KAS-6/1 cells, an independent MEK-MAPK pathway is activated and is
required for IFN-
-stimulated cellular proliferation. The mechanism
by which MAPK is strongly activated in KAS-6/1 cells but not in ANBL-6
cells, however, remains unclear but is currently under investigation.
Our analysis of the JAK-STAT pathway, ISG expression, and
anti-viral responses shows that this pathway is intact in both cell
lines and does not require MAPK activation. Therefore, these results
suggest that an additional signaling pathway(s) downstream of the
IFN-
receptor may affect the growth regulatory properties of
IFN-
. Thus, our observations suggest that IFN-
-stimulated
classical anti-viral and atypical proliferative responses within
the same cell line are mediated independently by JAK-STAT and MAPK
pathways, respectively. Our studies have not ruled out the possibility
that a common receptor-proximal signaling pathway may diverge at a
later point to mediate different biological responses. Therefore, it
remains feasible that IFN-
may trigger one signaling pathway
(JAK-STAT) in the proximity of the receptor, which may later branch off
to mediate growth responses via strong activation of the MEK-MAPK
pathway and anti-viral responses by activation of alternative
pathways.
| Acknowledgments |
|---|
| Footnotes |
|---|
2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Diane F. Jelinek, Department of Immunology, Rochester, MN 55905. E-mail address: ![]()
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: IFNAR, type I IFN receptor; JAK, Janus kinase; TYK, tyrosine kinase; ISG, IFN-stimulated gene; ISRE, IFN-stimulated response element; 2'-5'A, 2',5'-oligoadenylate; IRF-1, IFN-responsive factor-1; PI-3K, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase; MAPK, mitogen-activated protein kinase; h, human; GST, glutathione-S-transferase; MEK, mitogen-activated protein/extracellular signal-regulated kinase kinase. ![]()
Received for publication October 29, 1998. Accepted for publication December 16, 1998.
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