title: Pleiotrophin disrupts calcium-dependent homophilic cell-cell adhesion and initiates an epithelial-mesenchymal transition.
abstract: Regulation of the levels of tyrosine phosphorylation is essential to maintain the functions of proteins in different signaling pathways and other cellular systems, but how the steady-state levels of tyrosine phosphorylation are coordinated in different cellular systems to initiate complex cellular functions remains a formidable challenge. The receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase (RPTP)beta/zeta is a transmembrane tyrosine phosphatase whose substrates include proteins important in intracellular and transmembrane protein-signaling pathways, cytoskeletal structure, cell-cell adhesion, endocytosis, and chromatin remodeling. Pleiotrophin (PTN the protein and Ptn the gene) is a ligand for RPTPbeta/zeta; PTN inactivates RPTPbeta/zeta, leaving unchecked the continued endogenous activity of tyrosine kinases that increase phosphorylation of the substrates of RPTPbeta/zeta at sites dephosphorylated by RPTPbeta/zeta in cells not stimulated by PTN. Thus, through the regulation of the tyrosine phosphatase activity of RPTPbeta/zeta, the PTN/RPTPbeta/zeta signaling pathway coordinately regulates the levels of tyrosine phosphorylation of proteins in many cellular systems. We now demonstrate that PTN disrupts cytoskeletal protein complexes, ablates calcium-dependent homophilic cell-cell adhesion, stimulates ubiquitination and degradation of N-cadherin, reorganizes the actin cytoskeleton, and induces a morphological epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in PTN-stimulated U373 cells. The data suggest that increased tyrosine phosphorylation of the different substrates of RPTPbeta/zeta in PTN-stimulated cells alone is sufficient to coordinately stimulate the different functions needed for an EMT; it is possible that PTN initiates an EMT in cells at sites where PTN is expressed in development and in malignant cells that inappropriately express Ptn.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Perez-Pinera
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alcantara
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dimitrov
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Vega
authors.forename: T F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Deuel
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000378:metabolism; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D002460:Cell Line; D016207:Cytokines / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008648:Mesoderm / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D010766:Phosphorylation; D017027:Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D054633:Receptor-Like Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases, Class 5; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology; D014443:Tyrosine / Q000378:metabolism; D025801:Ubiquitin / Q000378:metabolism; D051176:beta Catenin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D015820:Cadherins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D016207:Cytokines; D025801:Ubiquitin; D051176:beta Catenin; C066845:pleiotrophin; D014443:Tyrosine; C516895:PTPRZ1 protein, human; D017027:Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases; D054633:Receptor-Like Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases, Class 5; D002118:Calcium