Transcriptional regulation of early growth response genes in FOS-expressing PC-12 cells.

Deregulated c-fos expression in the rat pheochromocytoma cell line, PC-12, causes pronounced downregulation of nerve growth factor (NGF)-induced c-fos and c-jun activation, accompanied by a block in NGF-induced differentiation of PC-12 cells. The FOS-expressing PC-12 cells were exposed to diverse agents such as NGF, epidermal growth factor (EGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta), interleukin-6 (IL-6), dibutyryl cyclic adenosine 3',5' monophosphate (db cAMP), and Ca-ionophore; and the expression of egr-1, c-fos, c-jun, jun-B, and jun-D was analyzed. Pronounced downregulation of c-fos, c-jun, and--to a lesser extent--jun-B was observed on treatment with NGF, bFGF, db cAMP, and Ca-ionophore, whereas EGF-induced activation of these early response genes was not inhibited in FOS-expressing PC-12 cells. Ca-ionophore- and db cAMP-induced egr-1 activation in PC-12 fos cells was completely inhibited. Both parent and PC-12 fos cells expressed similar high basal levels of jun-D, whose expression was the least regulatable by all of these agents. Transfection of fos promoter-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (promoter-CAT) plasmid into these stable FOS-expressing PC-12 cells revealed that these effects are exerted at the fos promoter level.     

Domains of E1A that bind p105Rb, p130, and p300 are required to block nerve growth factor-induced neurite growth in PC12 cells.

Nerve growth factor (NGF) causes PC12 cells to cease division and undergo sympathetic neuron-like differentiation, including neurite outgrowth. We have tested whether differentiation and division share overlapping control mechanisms in these cells. To do this, we have perturbed the activity of proteins known to participate in cell-cycle regulation by introducing the E1A oncogene or its mutant forms via microinjection into PC12 cells. The E1A protein binds to several putative cell cycle control proteins, including p105Rb (the product of the retinoblastoma susceptibility gene), as well as others of unknown function such as p130, p107, and p300. Similar to previous results, we find that wild-type E1A abrogates NGF-induced neurite extension. However, NGF does cause neurite outgrowth in the presence of E1A mutants known to have greatly reduced binding to either p105Rb and p130 or p300. Our experiments suggest that p105Rb, p130, and p300 may participate either in E1A-mediated inhibition of differentiation or in the NGF signal transduction pathway. We also report here that NGF affects phosphorylation of p105Rb, suggesting that Rb mediates at least some of NGF's effects. Our results raise the possibility that putative cell-cycle control proteins may participate not only in NGF-induced cessation of division but also in differentiation.     

Characterization of cis-regulatory elements of the c-myc promoter responding to human GM-CSF or mouse interleukin 3 in mouse proB cell line BA/F3 cells expressing the human GM-CSF receptor.

Interleukin 3 (IL-3) or granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) activates c-fos, c-jun, and c-myc genes and proliferation in both hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic cells. Using a series of deletion mutants of the beta subunit of human GM-CSF receptor (hGMR) and inhibitors of tyrosine kinase, two distinct signaling pathways, one for activation of c-fos and c-jun genes, and the other for cell proliferation and activation of c-myc gene have been elucidated. In contrast to wealth of information on the pathway leading to activation of c-fos/c-jun genes, knowledge of the latter is scanty. To clarify the mechanisms of activation of c-myc gene by cytokines, we established a transient transfection assay in mouse proB cell line BA/F3 cells expressing hGMR. Analyses of hGMR beta subunit mutants revealed two cytoplasmic regions involved in activation of the c-myc promoter, one is essential and the other is dispensable but enhances the activity. These regions are located at the membrane proximal and the distal regions covering amino acid positions 455-544 and 544-589, respectively. Characterization of cis-acting regulatory elements of the c-myc gene showed that the region containing the P2 promoter initiation site is sufficient to mediate the response to mIL-3 or hGM-CSF. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay using an oligonucleotide corresponding to the distal putative E2F binding site revealed that p107/E2F complex, the negative regulator of E2F, decreased, and free E2F increased after mIL-3 stimulation. These results support the thesis that mIL-3 or hGM-CSF regulates the c-myc promoter by altering composition of the E2F complexes at E2F binding site.     

Thyroid hormone receptor/c-erbA: control of commitment and differentiation in the neuronal/chromaffin progenitor line PC12

The c-erbA proto-oncogenes encode nuclear receptors for thyroid hormone (T3), a hormone intimately involved in mammalian brain maturation. To study thyroid hormone receptor (TR) action on neuronal cells in vitro, we expressed the chicken c-erbA/TR alpha-1 as well as its oncogenic variant v-erbA in the adrenal medulla progenitor cell line PC12. In the absence of T3, exogenous TR alpha-1 inhibits NGF-induced neuronal differentiation and represses neuron-specific gene expression. In contrast, TR alpha-1 allows normal differentiation and neuronal gene expression to occur in the presence of T3. Finally, TR alpha-1- expressing cells become NGF-responsive for proliferation when T3 is absent, but NGF-dependent for survival in presence of T3. A similar differentiation induction by NGF plus T3 was observed in a central nervous system-derived neuronal cell line (E 18) expressing exogenous TR alpha-1. Together with the finding that TR alpha-1 constitutively blocked dexamethasone-induced differentiation of PC12 cells into the chromaffin pathway, these results suggest that TR alpha-1 plays an important role in regulating commitment and maturation of neuronal progenitors. In contrast, the v-erbA oncogene, a mutated, oncogenic version of TR alpha-1, partially but constitutively inhibited NGF- induced neuronal differentiation of PC12 cells and potentiated dexamethasone-induced chromaffin differentiation, giving rise to an aberrant "interlineage" cell phenotype.     

Mechanism of induction of cellular DNA synthesis by the adenovirus E1A 12S cDNA product

The mechanism of induction of DNA synthesis in quiescent rat 3Y1 cells by the adenovirus E1A gene was investigated using the 3Y1 derivative cell lines g12-21, gn12RB1, and gn12RB2. The g12-21 cells express the E1A 12S cDNA and the latter two cells express both the E1A 12S cDNA and the human retinoblastoma susceptibility (Rb) gene at different levels in response to dexamethasone (dex). The cDNA sequences of E1A-inducible cell cycle-dependent genes, clone 3 and clone 16, were isolated by differential screening of a cDNA library constructed from dex-treated g12-21 cells. The quiescent 3Y1 cells induced c-fos and c-myc expression within 2 h after serum stimulation and expressed clone 16 and clone 3 transiently at around 8 h before the onset of DNA synthesis (10 h). In contrast, the quiescent g12-21 cells treated with dex expressed a high level of E1A at 6 to 8 h after treatment and expressed clone 16 and clone 3 at around 8 h without stimulation of c-fos and c-myc expression, suggesting that E1A bypasses the cell cycle early in G1. The half-maximal rate of DNA synthesis was reached in a much shorter time in dex-treated g12-21 cells (12 h) than in serum-treated 3Y1 cells (18 h), suggesting that E1A also bypasses the cell cycle at the G1/S boundary. The gn12RB1 and gn12RB2 cells were unable to induce DNA synthesis in response to dex presumably due to lower levels of E1A expression, although gn12RB2 but not gn12RB1 cells could express clone 16 and clone 3. These results suggest that the level of E1A required for bypass at the G1/S boundary is higher than that required early in G1.     

Oncogene N-ras mediates selective inhibition of c-fos induction by nerve growth factor and basic fibroblast growth factor in a PC12 cell line.

A cell line was generated from U7 cells (a subline of PC12 rat pheochromocytoma cells) that contains a stably integrated transforming mouse N-ras (Lys-61) gene under the control of the long terminal repeat from mouse mammary tumor virus. Such cells, designated UR61, undergo neuronal differentiation upon exposure to nanomolar concentrations of dexamethasone, as a consequence of expression of the activated N-ras gene (I. Guerrero, A. Pellicer, and D.E. Burstein, Biochem, Biophys. Res. Commun. 150:1185-1192, 1988). Exposure of UR61 cells to either nerve growth factor (NGF) or basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) results in a marked induction of c-fos RNA, with kinetics paralleling those of NGF- or bFGF-induced expression of c-fos RNA in PC12 cells. Dexamethasone-induced expression of activated N-ras p21 results in blocking of c-fos RNA induction by NGF or bFGF in a time-dependent manner. Activated N-ras p21-mediated inhibition of c-fos RNA induction in UR61 cells is selective for NGF and bFGF and is not due to selective degradation of c-fos RNA. Normal and transforming N-ras can trans activate the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene linked to mouse c-fos regulatory sequences when transient expression assays are performed. Our observations suggest that N-ras p21 selectively interacts with pathways involved in induction of c-fos expression which initiate at the receptors for NGF and bFGF.     

Cell-free translation of adenovirus 2 E1a- and E1b-specific mRNAs and evidence that E1a-related polypeptides are produced from E1a-E1b overlapping mRNA

We have characterized the polypeptides translated in vitro by mRNAs of early region 1 (E1) of human adenovirus (Ad) type 2. Poly (A+) polyribosomal RNA was isolated from early Ad2-infected cells, the viral specific mRNAs were selected by hybridization to Ad2 E1a and E1b DNA, and the mRNAs were translated in vitro using [35S]methionine as a labeled precursor with a rabbit reticulocyte lysate. E1a-selected mRNA was translated to the 45-58-kDa cluster of polypeptides. We show here that E1b-selected mRNA can also be translated to the 45-58-kDa cluster of polypeptides in addition to the major 19-kDa polypeptide. The E1b 58-kDa polypeptide was produced only at a low level unless E1b mRNA is fractionated before translation to enrich for the 58-kDa mRNA. Translation of E1b region-selected mRNAs that have been fractionated by size shows that the 22 S mRNA fraction is translated to at least the 53-58-kDa E1a-related polypeptides as well as to E1b 58- and 19-kDa polypeptides. Our experiments suggest that the 22 S mRNA fraction includes E1a-E1b overlapping mRNA which was translated to E1a-related polypeptides as well as E1b 22 S mRNA. When compared by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and by tryptic peptide mapping, the cluster of polypeptides translated from E1a-selected mRNA and the cluster translated from E1b-selected mRNA were distinguishable. A possible explanation for this is discussed, based upon splicing sites of the E1a-E1b overlapping mRNA which would result in an amino acid sequence with a COOH-terminal end slightly different from that of E1a polypeptides.     

Retinoic acid stimulates the differentiation of PC12 cells that are deficient in cAMP-dependent protein kinase

Retinoic acid (RA) induced neuronal differentiation in A126-1B2 cells and 123.7 cells, two mutant lines of PC12 that are deficient in cAMP-dependent protein kinase, but not in the parental PC12 cell line. A single exposure to RA was sufficient to cause neurite formation and inhibit cell division for a period of greater than 3 wk, suggesting that RA may cause a long-term, stable change in the state of these cells. In A126-1B2 cells, RA also induced the expression of other markers of differentiation including acetylcholinesterase and the mRNAs for neurofilament (NF-M) and GAP-43 as effectively as nerve growth factor (NGF). Neither NGF nor RA stimulated an increase in the expression of smg-25A in A126-1B2 cells, suggesting that the cAMP-dependent protein kinases may be required for an increase in the expression of this marker. RA also caused a rapid increase in the expression of the early response gene, c-fos, but did not effect the expression of egr-1. RA equivalently inhibited the division of A126-1B2 cells, 123.7 cells and parental PC12 cells, so RA induced differentiation is not an indirect response to growth arrest. In contrast, the levels of retinoic acid receptors (RAR alpha and RAR beta), and retinoic acid binding protein (CRABP) mRNA were strikingly higher in both A126-1B2 cells and 123.7 cells than in the parental PC12 cells. The deficiencies in cAMP-dependent protein kinase may increase the expression of CRABP and the RARs; and, thus, cAMP may indirectly regulate the ability of RA to control neurite formation and neural differentiation. Thus, RA appears to regulate division and differentiation of PC12 cells by a biochemical mechanism that is quite distinct from those used by peptide growth factors.