Unravelling the Mechanism of TrkA-Induced Cell Death by Macropinocytosis in Medulloblastoma Daoy Cells (original) (raw)

Non-apoptotic cell death associated with perturbations of macropinocytosis

Frontiers in physiology, 2015

Although macropinocytosis is widely recognized as a distinct form of fluid-phase endocytosis in antigen-presenting dendritic cells, it also occurs constitutively in many other normal and transformed cell types. Recent studies have established that various genetic or pharmacological manipulations can hyperstimulate macropinocytosis or disrupt normal macropinosome trafficking pathways, leading to accumulation of greatly enlarged cytoplasmic vacuoles. In some cases, this extreme vacuolization is associated with a unique form of non-apoptotic cell death termed "methuosis," from the Greek methuo (to drink to intoxication). It remains unclear whether cell death related to dysfunctional macropinocytosis occurs in normal physiological contexts. However, the finding that some types of cancer cells are particularly vulnerable to this unusual form of cell death has raised the possibility that small molecules capable of altering macropinosome trafficking or function might be useful as...

Active Ras Triggers Death in Glioblastoma Cells through Hyperstimulation of Macropinocytosis

Molecular Cancer Research, 2008

Expression of activated Ras in glioblastoma cells induces accumulation of large phase-lucent cytoplasmic vacuoles, followed by cell death. This was previously described as autophagic cell death. However, unlike autophagosomes, the Ras-induced vacuoles are not bounded by a double membrane and do not sequester organelles or cytoplasm. Moreover, they are not acidic and do not contain the autophagosomal membrane protein, LC3-II. Here we show that the vacuoles are enlarged macropinosomes. They rapidly incorporate extracellular fluid-phase tracers, but do not sequester transferrin or the endosomal protein, EEA1. Ultimately, the cells expressing activated Ras detach from the substratum and rupture, coincident with the displacement of cytoplasm with huge macropinosome-derived vacuoles. These changes are accompanied by caspase activation, but the broad-spectrum caspase inhibitor, z-VAD, does not prevent cell death. Moreover, the majority of degenerating cells do not exhibit chromatin condensation typical of apoptosis. These observations provide evidence for a necrosis-like form of cell death initiated by dysregulation of macropinocytosis, which we have dubbed 'methuosis'. An activated form of the Rac1 GTPase induces a similar form of cell death, suggesting that Ras acts through Rac-dependent signaling pathways to hyperstimulate macropinocytosis in glioblastoma. Further study of these signaling pathways may lead to the identification of other chemical and physiological triggers for this unusual form of cell death.

Origin, originality, functions, subversions and molecular signalling of macropinocytosis

International Journal of Medical Microbiology, 2001

Macropinocytosis refers to the formation of primary large endocytic vesicles of irregular size and shape, generated by actin-driven evaginations of the plasma membrane, whereby cells avidly incorporate extracellular fluid. Macropinosomes resemble "empty" phagosomes and show no difference with the "spacious phagosomes" triggered by the enteropathogenic bacteria Salmonella and Shigella. Macropinosomes may fuse with lysosomes or regurgitate their content back to the extracellular space. In multiple cell types, macropinocytosis is a transient response to growth factors. When amoebas are cultured under axenic conditions, macropinocytosis is induced so as to fulfil nutritional requirements. In immature dendritic cells, macropinocytosis allows for extensive sampling of soluble antigens; after a few days of maturation, this activity vanishes as processed peptides are being presented. Macropinosomes are also formed at the leading edge of motile leukocytes or neurons. In all these examples, macropinocytosis appears tightly regulated. Transformation of fibroblasts by Src or Ras also results in constitutive formation of macropinosomes at "ruffling" zones, that could be related to accelerated cell motility.

Autophagic cell death induced by TrkA receptor activation in human glioblastoma cells

Journal of Neurochemistry, 2007

The neurotrophin receptor tropomyosin-related kinase A (TrkA) and its ligand nerve growth factor (NGF) are expressed in astrocytomas, and an inverse association of TrkA expression with malignancy grade was described. We hypothesized that TrkA expression might confer a growth disadvantage to glioblastoma cells. To analyze TrkA function and signaling, we transfected human TrkA cDNA into the human glioblastoma cell line G55. We obtained three stable clones, all of which responded with striking cytoplasmic vacuolation and subsequent cell death to NGF. Analyzing the mechanism of cell death, we could exclude apoptosis and cellular senescence. Instead, we identified several indications of autophagy: electron microscopy showed typical autophagic vacuoles; acridine orange staining revealed acidic vesicular organelles; acidification of acidic vesicular organelles was prevented using bafilomycin A1; cells displayed arrest in G2/M; increased processing of LC3 occurred; vacuolation was prevented by the autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine; no caspase activation was detected. We further found that both activation of ERK and c-Jun N-terminal kinase but not p38 were involved in autophagic vacuolation. To conclude, we identified autophagy as a novel mechanism of NGF-induced cell death. Our findings suggest that TrkA activation in human glioblastomas might be beneficial therapeutically, especially as several of the currently used chemotherapeutics also induce autophagic cell death.

Preface: Mechanisms of Cell Death 2000

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2006

This book derives from a meeting of The International Cell Death Society held in May, 2000. The theme of the meeting was perhaps best expressed by a quotation used to open the meeting, “Truth does not become more true by virtue of the fact that the entire world ...

Differential signaling during macropinocytosis in response to M-CSF and PMA in macrophages

Frontiers in Physiology, 2015

The cellular movements that construct a macropinosome have a corresponding sequence of chemical transitions in the cup-shaped region of plasma membrane that becomes the macropinosome. To determine the relative positions of type I phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and phospholipase C (PLC) in this pathway, we analyzed macropinocytosis in macrophages stimulated by the growth factor macrophage-colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) and by the diacylglycerol (DAG) analog phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA). In cells stimulated with M-CSF, microscopic imaging of fluorescent probes for intracellular lipids indicated that the PI3K product phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-trisphosphate (PIP 3) appeared in cups just prior to DAG. We then tested the hypothesis that PMA and DAG function after PI3K and prior to Ras and protein kinase C (PKC) during macropinosome formation in macrophages. Although the PI3K target Akt was activated by M-CSF, the Akt inhibitor MK-2206 did not inhibit macropinocytosis. The phospholipase C (PLC) inhibitor U73122 blocked macropinocytosis by M-CSF but not PMA. Macropinocytosis in response to M-CSF and PMA was inhibited by the Ras inhibitor farnesyl thiosalicylate (FTS), by the PKC inhibitor Calphostin C and by the broad specificity inhibitor rottlerin. These studies support a model in which M-CSF stimulates PI3K in macropinocytic cups, and the resulting increase in PIP 3 activates PLC, which in turn generates DAG necessary for activation of PKC, Ras and the late stages of macropinosome closure.

Mechanism for the induction of cell death in ONS-76 medulloblastoma cells by Zhangfei/CREB-ZF

Journal of Neuro-Oncology, 2012

Cells from medulloblastoma lines do not contain detectable amounts of the basic leucine-zipper protein Zhangfei. However, we have previously shown that expression of this protein in cells of the ONS-76 and UW228 medulloblastoma lines causes the cells to stop growing and develop processes that resemble neurites. Our objective was to determine the molecular mechanisms by which Zhangfei influences ONS-76 cells. We infected ONS-76 cells with adenovirus vectors expressing either Zhangfei or the control protein LacZ and then compared the following parameters in Zhangfei and LacZ-expressing cells: (a) markers of apoptosis, autophagy and macropinocytosis, (b) transcripts for genes involved in neurogenesis and apoptosis, (c) phosphorylation of peptide targets of selected cellular protein kinases, and (d) activation of transcription factors. Zhangfei-expressing cells appeared to succumb to apoptosis. Increased staining for autophagic vesicles and upregulated expression of autophagy response genes in these cells indicated that they were undergoing autophagy, possibly associated with apoptosis. Within our analysis, patterns of gene expression and phosphorylationmediated signal transduction activity in Zhangfei-expressing cells indicated that the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway was active. In addition, we found that the transcription factor Brn3a as well as factors implicated in differentiation were also active in Zhangfei-expressing cells. We tested the hypothesis that Zhangfei enhances the expression of Brn3a, a known inducer of TrkA, the highaffinity receptor for nerve growth factor (NGF). TrkA then engages NGF in an autocrine manner triggering the MAPK pathway and leading to differentiation of ONS-76 cells into neuron and glia-like cells-a process that eventually brings about cell death. We showed that: (a) Zhangfei could enhance transcription from the isolated Brn3a promoter, (b) ONS-76 cells produced NGF and (c) antibodies against NGF and inhibitors of TrkA and selected components of the MAPK pathway could partially restore the growth of Zhangfei-expressing ONS-76 cells.

Specific TrkA survival signals interfere with different apoptotic pathways

Oncogene, 1998

Survival signalling by ligand-activated tyrosine kinase receptors plays a crucial role in maintaining the balance between cell viability and apoptosis in multicellular organisms. To identify receptor domains and pathways involved in survival signalling, the nerve growth factor receptor TrkA was expressed in Rat-1/MycER TM ®broblasts. We demonstrate that wt-TrkA receptor delays c-Myc-, U.V.-and Cycloheximide-induced apoptosis and activates targets such as the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) Erk2 and the serine/threonine kinase Akt/PKB, both of which have been implicated in survival signalling. TrkA mutated within its SHC binding site (Y490F) delays c-Myc-induced apoptosis without activating endogenous Akt/PKB. In contrast, the TrkA Y490F mutant receptor does not delay U.V.-induced apoptosis whilst TrkA mutated at its PLC-g binding site (Y785F) is capable of protecting from apoptosis induced by c-Myc or U.V. treatment. The double mutant TrkA YY490/785FF fails to block either of these two apoptotic stimuli. While PI3-kinase inhibitors LY294002 and Wortmannin competely block survival signalling following U.V. treatment, neither drug aects the ability of TrkA to block c-Myc-induced apoptosis. We show that the Akt/PKB pathway is essential for NGF stimulated TrkA survival signalling in the case of U.V.-induced apoptosis, but that apoptosis induced by c-Myc is also blocked by a novel, Akt/PKB-independent, pathway. These observations suggest that TrkA can activate dierent survival signalling pathways, which can interfere with speci®c apoptotic pathways.