title: Inability of the acidic fibroblast growth factor mutant K132E to stimulate DNA synthesis after translocation into cells.
abstract: Acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF) is a potent mitogen. It acts through activation of specific cell surface receptors leading to intracellular tyrosine phosphorylation cascades, but several reports also indicate that aFGF enters cells and that it has an intracellular function as well. The aFGF(K132E) mutant binds to and activates fibroblast growth factor receptors equally strongly as the wild-type, but it is a poor mitogen. We demonstrate that aFGF(K132E) enters NIH 3T3 cells and is transported to the nuclear fraction like wild-type aFGF. A fusion protein of aFGF(K132E) and diphtheria toxin A-fragment (aFGF(K132E)-DT-A) and a similar fusion protein containing wild-type aFGF (aFGF-DT-A) were reconstituted with diphtheria toxin B-fragment. Both fusion proteins were translocated to the cytosol by the diphtheria toxin pathway and subsequently recovered from the nuclear fraction. Whereas translocation of aFGF-DT-A stimulated DNA synthesis in U2OSDR1 cells lacking functional fibroblast growth factor receptors, aFGF(K132E)-DT-A did not. The mutation disrupts a protein kinase C phosphorylation site in the growth factor making it unable to be phosphorylated. The data indicate that a defect in the intracellular action of aFGF(K132E) is the reason for its strongly reduced mitogenicity, possibly due to inability to be phosphorylated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, The Institute for Cancer Research, The Norwegian Radium Hospital, Montebello, 0310 Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Klingenberg
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Widlocha
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rapak
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Falnes
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Olsnes
mesh_terms: D016475:3T3 Cells; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D004261:DNA Replication / Q000502:physiology*; D004167:Diphtheria Toxin / Q000378:metabolism; D016220:Fibroblast Growth Factor 1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010766:Phosphorylation; D017468:Receptors, Fibroblast Growth Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D004167:Diphtheria Toxin; D017468:Receptors, Fibroblast Growth Factor; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D016220:Fibroblast Growth Factor 1