John M. Kyriakis

Sounding the Alarm: Protein Kinase Cascades Activated by Stress and Inflammation

Eukaryotic cells respond to extracellular stimuli by recruiting signal transduction pathways, many of which employ protein Ser/ Thr kinases of the ERK family. The ubiquity of ERKs and their upstream activators, the MEKs, in signal transduction was first appreciated from studies of yeast (1, 2). Although a 54-kDa rat liver c-Jun kinase (SAPK-p54a1) with properties similar to the Rasregulated MAPKs had been characterized (3–5), the physiologic roles and regulation of this and related mammalian enzymes have emerged only recently. Molecular cloning of the SAPKs and p38s, together with the paradigms derived from the “classical” MAPKs and work in lower eukaryotes has enabled rapid elucidation of the regulation and cellular functions of these newer mammalian ERK pathways. Although architecturally homologous to the Ras/MAPK pathway, the SAPK and p38 pathways are not activated primarily by mitogens but by cellular stresses and inflammatory cytokines, which stimuli result in growth arrest, apoptosis, or activation of immune and reticuloendothelial cells.

Raf meets Ras: completing the framework of a signal transduction pathway

The Ras oncoprotein, a GTP-activated molecular switch, interacts directly with the Raf oncoprotein to recruit the MAP kinases and their subordinates. In this way, a mitogenic signal initiated by tyrosine kinases is converted by Ras into a wave of regulatory phosphorylation on serine and threonine residues that, depending on its intensity and duration, and the variety of substrates available, results in cell differentiation or cell division.

Mammalian MAPK Signal Transduction Pathways Activated by Stress and Inflammation: A 10-Year Update

The mammalian stress-activated families of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) were first elucidated in 1994, and by 2001, substantial progress had been made in identifying the architecture of the pathways upstream of these kinases as well as in cataloguing candidate substrates. This information remains largely sound. Nevertheless, an informed understanding of the physiological and pathophysiological roles of these kinases remained to be accomplished. In the past decade, there has been an explosion of new work using RNAi in cells, as well as transgenic, knockout and conditional knockout technology in mice that has provided valuable insight into the functions of stress-activated MAPK pathways. These findings have important implications in our understanding of organ development, innate and acquired immunity, and diseases such as atherosclerosis, tumorigenesis, and type 2 diabetes. These new developments bring us within striking distance of the development and validation of novel treatment strategies. Herein we first summarize the molecular components of the mammalian stress-regulated MAPK pathways and their regulation as described thus far. We then review some of the in vivo functions of these pathways.

The stress-activated protein kinase pathway mediates cell death following injury induced by cis-platinum, UV irradiation or heat

BACKGROUND Stimuli that stress cells, including inflammatory cytokines, ultra-violet irradiation, DNA-damaging chemotherapeutic drugs and heat shock, stimulate a recently identified cytoplasmic signaling system that is structurally related to the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway. This pathway consists of a cascade of protein kinases including stress-activated protein kinase (SAPK), also termed Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and two kinases that activate it, MEKK and SEK/MKK4. Despite rapid progress in delineating the components of this pathway, the cellular consequence of its activation remains to be defined. RESULTS We have screened cells for defects in SAPK signaling and identified a cell line, previously characterized for its thermotolerance properties, as being more refractive to SAPK activation induced by heat stress than its thermosensitive parental line. Stable expression of dominant inhibiting SEK mutants in thermosensitive parental cells specifically and effectively blocked SAPK activation after heat shock. These lines also became markedly resistant to the cytocidal effects of thermal stress, confirming the phenotype of the thermotolerant line. These cell lines defective in SAPK activation were also resistant to the lethal effects of the DNA-damaging drug cis-platinum. CONCLUSIONS Experimentally induced stable blockade of SAPK activation in cells with normal thermosensitivity is sufficient to confer resistance to cell death induced by diverse stimuli including heat and the chemotherapeutic agent cis-platinum. These results suggest that activation of the SAPK pathway by diverse cell stressors plays a critical part in mediating the toxicity of these treatments and inducing cell death. SAPK activation in this context could broadly influence cellular response to stress, modulate apoptosis during development or determine the clinical response of tumor cells to cytotoxic therapies.

Activation of apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) by tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 2 requires prior dissociation of the ASK1 inhibitor thioredoxin.

ABSTRACT The stress-activated protein kinases (SAPKs, also called c-Jun NH2-terminal kinases) and the p38s, two mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) subgroups activated by cytokines of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family, are pivotal to the de novo gene expression elicited as part of the inflammatory response. Apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) is a MAPK kinase kinase (MAP3K) that activates both the SAPKs and p38s in vivo. Here we show that TNF receptor (TNFR) associated factor 2 (TRAF2), an adapter protein that couples TNFRs to the SAPKs and p38s, can activate ASK1 in vivo and can interact in vivo with the amino- and carboxyl-terminal noncatalytic domains of the ASK1 polypeptide. Expression of the amino-terminal noncatalytic domain of ASK1 can inhibit TNF and TRAF2 activation of SAPK. TNF can stimulate the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and the redox-sensing enzyme thioredoxin (Trx) is an endogenous inhibitor of ASK1. We also show that expression of TRAF2 fosters the production of ROS in transfected cells. We demonstrate that Trx significantly inhibits TRAF2 activation of SAPK and blocks the ASK1-TRAF2 interaction in a reaction reversed by oxidants. Finally, the mechanism of ASK1 activation involves, in part, homo-oligomerization. We show that expression of ASK1 with TRAF2 enhances in vivo ASK1 homo-oligomerization in a manner dependent, in part, upon the TRAF2 RING effector domain and the generation of ROS. Thus, activation of ASK1 by TNF requires the ROS-mediated dissociation of Trx possibly followed by the binding of TRAF2 and consequent ASK1 homo-oligomerization.

Tumor Necrosis Factor Signaling to Stress-activated Protein Kinase (SAPK)/Jun NH2-terminal Kinase (JNK) and p38 GERMINAL CENTER KINASE COUPLES TRAF2 TO MITOGEN-ACTIVATED PROTEIN KINASE/ERK KINASE KINASE 1 AND SAPK WHILE RECEPTOR INTERACTING PROTEIN ASSOCIATES WITH A MITOGEN-ACTIVATED PROTEIN KINASE KINASE KINASE UPSTREAM OF MKK6 AND p38

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) elicits a diverse array of inflammatory responses through engagement of its type-1 receptor (TNFR1). Many of these responses require de novogene expression mediated by the activator protein-1 (AP-1) transcription factor. We investigated the mechanism by which TNFR1 recruits the stress-activated protein kinases (SAPKs) and the p38s, two mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) families that together regulate AP-1. We show that the human SPS1 homologue germinal center kinase (GCK) can interact in vivo with the TNFR1 signal transducer TNFR-associated factor-2 (TRAF2) and with MAPK/ERK kinase kinase 1 (MEKK1), a MAPK kinase kinase (MAPKKK) upstream of the SAPKs, thereby coupling TRAF2 to the SAPKs. Receptor interacting protein (RIP) is a second TNFR signal transducer which can bind TRAF2. We show that RIP activates both p38 and SAPK; and that TRAF2 activation of p38 requires RIP. We also demonstrate that the RIP noncatalytic intermediate domain associates in vivo with an endogenous MAPKKK that can activate the p38 pathway in vitro. Thus, TRAF2 initiates SAPK and p38 activation by binding two proximal protein kinases: GCK and RIP. GCK and RIP, in turn, signal by binding MAPKKKs upstream of the SAPKs and p38s.

Stress-Activated Protein Kinases in Cardiovascular Disease

Cells respond to extracellular stimuli by activating signal transduction pathways, which culminate in changes in gene expression. The particular genetic program activated determines, in large part, the response of the cell (eg, growth versus growth arrest versus apoptosis; differentiation versus dedifferentiation). A critical component of eukaryotic signal transduction is the activation of protein kinases, which phosphorylate a host of cellular substrates, including transcription factors controlling the induction of various genes. For example, the Ras/ERK-1 and ERK-2 (or MAP kinase) pathway transduces critical components of the growth factor–induced mitogenic response to the nucleus. Expression of inactive or interfering mutants of components of the pathway disrupts, and expression of constitutively active mutants activates, mitogenesis.1 Recently, protein serine/threonine kinases related to ERK-1 and -2 have been identified; these kinases transduce signals to the nucleus not in response to growth factors and other mitogens but in response to cellular stresses such as inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β and TNF-α), ischemia, reversible ATP depletion, heat shock, endotoxin, and genotoxic stress. These kinases, called the SAPKs2 or, alternatively, c-Jun N-terminal (amino-terminal) kinases (JNKs, named after one of their physiological substrates),3 and p38,4 likely play critical roles in the genetic response of many components of the cardiovascular system to disease processes (Table⇓). In this review, we will discuss these stress-activated kinases, how they are regulated, and the evidence suggesting roles they may play in cardiovascular disease. View this table: Table 1. Postulated Effects of SAPKs and p38 in Cardiovascular Disease States The SAPKs were first described in 1990 as the dominant microtubule-associated protein 2 kinase activated in rat liver in response to systemic administration of the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide.5 The kinase shared two major characteristics with the mitogen-activated p42 and p44 MAP kinases (later renamed ERK-2 and ERK-1, respectively). The first was proline-directed substrate specificity. Serine or …

The Mixed Lineage Kinase SPRK Phosphorylates and Activates the Stress-activated Protein Kinase Activator, SEK-1

SPRK (also called PTK-1 and MLK-3), a member of the mixed lineage kinase subfamily of (Ser/Thr) protein kinases, encodes an amino-terminal SH3 domain followed by a kinase catalytic domain, two leucine zippers interrupted by a short spacer, a Rac/Cdc42 binding domain, and a long carboxyl-terminal proline-rich region. We report herein that SPRK activates the stress-activated protein kinases (SAPKs) but not ERK-1 during transient expression in COS cells; the p38 kinase is activated modestly (1.3-2 fold) but consistently. SPRK also activates cotransfected SEK-1/MKK-4, a dual specificity kinase which phosphorylates and activates SAPK. Reciprocally, expression of mutant, inactive SEK-1 inhibits completely the basal and SPRK-activated SAPK activity. Immunoprecipitated recombinant SPRK is able to phosphorylate and activate recombinant SEK-1 in vitro to an extent comparable to that achieved by MEK kinase-1. These results identify SPRK as a candidate upstream activator of the stress-activated protein kinases, acting through the phosphorylation and activation of SEK-1.

Role of the stress-activated protein kinases in endothelin-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy.

The signal transduction pathways governing the hypertrophic response of cardiomyocytes are not well defined. Constitutive activation of the stress-activated protein kinase (SAPK) family of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases or another stress-response MAP kinase, p38, by overexpression of activated mutants of various components of the pathways is sufficient to induce a hypertrophic response in cardiomyocytes, but it is not clear what role these pathways play in the response to physiologically relevant hypertrophic stimuli. To determine the role of the SAPKs in the hypertrophic response, we used adenovirus-mediated gene transfer of SAPK/ERK kinase-1 (KR) [SEK-1(KR)], a dominant inhibitory mutant of SEK-1, the immediate upstream activator of the SAPKs, to block signal transmission down the SAPK pathway in response to the potent hypertrophic agent, endothelin-1 (ET-1). SEK-1(KR) completely inhibited ET-1-induced SAPK activation without affecting activation of the other MAP kinases implicated in the hypertrophic response, p38 and extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases (ERK)-1/ERK-2. Expression of SEK-1(KR) markedly inhibited the ET-1-induced increase in protein synthesis. In contrast, the MAPK/ERK kinase inhibitor, PD98059, which blocks ERK activation, and the p38 inhibitor, SB203580, had no effect on ET-1-induced protein synthesis. ET-1 also induced a significant increase in atrial natriuretic factor mRNA expression as well as in the percentage of cells with highly organized sarcomeres, responses which were also blocked by expression of SEK-1(KR). In summary, inhibiting activation of the SAPK pathway abrogated the hypertrophic response to ET-1. These data are the first demonstration that the SAPKs are necessary for the development of agonist-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, and suggest that in response to ET-1, they transduce critical signals governing the hypertrophic response.

Actin-biding Protein-280 Binds the Stress-activated Protein Kinase (SAPK) Activator SEK-1 and Is Required for Tumor Necrosis Factor-α Activation of SAPK in Melanoma Cells

SEK-1, a dual specificity protein kinase that serves as one of the immediate upstream activators of the stress-activated protein kinases (SAPKs), associates specifically with the actin-binding protein, ABP-280, in vitro and in situ. SEK-1 binds to the carboxyl-terminal rod segment of ABP-280, upstream of the ABP carboxyl-terminal dimerization domain. Activation of SEK-1 in situ increases the SEK-1 activity bound to ABP-280 without changing the amount of SEK-1 polypeptide bound. The influence of ABP-280 on SAPK regulation was evaluated in human melanoma cells that lack ABP-280 expression, and in stable transformants of these cells expressing wild type ABP, or an actin-binding but dimerization-deficient mutant ABP (ABPΔCT109). ABP-280-deficient cells show an activation of SAPK in response to most stimuli that is comparable to that seen in ABP-280-replete cells; ABP-280-deficient cells, however, fail to show the brisk tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) activation of SAPK seen in ABP-replete cells and have an 80% reduction in SAPK activation by lysophosphatidic acid. Expression of the dimerization-deficient mutant ABP-280 fails to correct the defective SAPK response to lysophosphatidic acid, but essentially normalizes the TNF-α activation of SAPK. Thus, a lack of ABP-280 in melanoma cells causes a defect in the regulation of SAPK that is selective for TNF-α and is attributable to the lack of ABP-280 polypeptide itself rather than to the disordered actin cytoskeleton that results therefrom. ABP-280 participates in TNF-α signal transduction to SAPKs, in part through the binding of SEK-1.