title: Constitutively active mutant of the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase MEK1 induces epithelial dedifferentiation and growth inhibition in madin-darby canine kidney-C7 cells.
abstract: Overexpression of a constitutively active mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MAPKK or MEK) induces neuronal differentiation in adrenal pheochromocytoma 12 cells but transformation in fibroblasts. In the present study, we used a constitutively active MAPK/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) kinase 1 (MEK1) mutant to investigate the function of the highly conserved MEK1-ERK2 signaling module in renal epithelial cell differentiation and proliferation. Stable expression of constitutively active MEK1 (CA-MEK1) in epithelial MDCK-C7 cells led to an increased basal and serum-stimulated ERK1 and ERK2 phosphorylation as well as ERK2 activation when compared with mock-transfected cells. In both mock-transfected and CA-MEK1-transfected MDCK-C7 cells, basal and serum-stimulated ERK1 and ERK2 phosphorylation was almost abolished by the synthetic MEK inhibitor PD098059. Increased ERK2 activation due to stable expression of CA-MEK1 in MDCK-C7 cells was associated with epithelial dedifferentiation as shown by both a dramatic alteration in cell morphology and an abolished cytokeratin expression but increased vimentin expression. In addition, we obtained a delayed and reduced serum-stimulated cell proliferation in CA-MEK1-transfected cells (4.6-fold increase in cell number/cm2 after 5 days of serum stimulation) as compared with mock-transfected controls (12.9-fold increase in cell number/cm2 after 5 days). This result was confirmed by flow cytometric DNA analysis showing that stable expression of CA-MEK1 decreased the proportion of MDCK-C7 cells moving from G0/G1 to G2/M as compared with both untransfected and mock-transfected cells. Taken together, our data demonstrate an association of increased basal and serum-stimulated activity of the MEK1-ERK2 signaling module with epithelial dedifferentiation and growth inhibition in MDCK-C7 cells. Thus, the MEK1-ERK2 signaling pathway could act as a negative regulator of epithelial differentiation thereby leading to an attenuation of MDCK-C7 cell proliferation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, University of Innsbruck, A-6010 Innsbruck, Austria. herbert.schramek@uibk.ac.at
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schramek
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Feifel
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Healy
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pollack
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000943:Antigens, Differentiation; D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002455:Cell Division; D004285:Dogs; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D004847:Epithelial Cells; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000494:pharmacology; D007668:Kidney / Q000166:cytology*; D048369:MAP Kinase Kinase 1; D008648:Mesoderm / Q000502:physiology; D019950:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1; D048052:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 3; D020929:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Kinases; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; D009154:Mutation; D010766:Phosphorylation; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D000943:Antigens, Differentiation; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D005419:Flavonoids; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases; D019950:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1; D048052:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 3; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; D048369:MAP Kinase Kinase 1; D020929:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Kinases; C093973:2-(2-amino-3-methoxyphenyl)-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one