title: Domain structure of pleiotrophin required for transformation.
abstract: The pleiotrophin (PTN) gene (Ptn) is a potent proto-oncogene that is highly expressed in many primary human tumors and constitutively expressed in cell lines derived from these tumors. The product of the Ptn gene is a secreted 136-amino acid heparin binding cytokine with distinct lysine-rich clusters within both the N- and C-terminal domains. To seek domains of PTN functionally important in neoplastic transformation, we constructed a series of mutants and tested their transforming potential by four independent criteria. Our data establish that a domain within PTN residues 41 to 64 and either but not both the N- or C-terminal domains are required for transformation; deletion of both the N and C termini abolishes the transformation potential of PTN. Furthermore, deletion of two internal 5-amino acid residue repeats enhances the transformation potency of PTN 2-fold. Our data indicate that PTN residues 41-64 contain an essential domain for transformation and suggest the hypothesis that this domain requires an additional interaction of the highly basic clusters of the N or C terminus of PTN with a negatively charged "docking" site to enable the transforming domain itself to engage and initiate PTN signaling through its cognate receptor.
authors.affiliation: Division of Growth Regulation, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA. emaldona@machi.med.uchile.cl
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: T F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Deuel
mesh_terms: D016475:3T3 Cells; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D016207:Cytokines / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D009374:Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000473:pathology; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D016207:Cytokines; C000715470:MAS1 protein, human; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; C066845:pleiotrophin