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Biomedical subjects

O N Witte

Publications and source records attributed to O N Witte.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

SH1 domain autophosphorylation of P210 BCR/ABL is required for transformation but not growth factor independence.

P210 BCR/ABL is a chimeric oncogene implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic myelogenous leukemia. BCR sequences have been shown to be required for activation of the tyrosine kinase and transforming functions of BCR/ABL. In this work, we show that two other structural requirements for full transforming activity of P210 BCR/ABL include a functional tyrosine kinase and the presence of tyrosine 1294, a site of autophosphorylation within the tyrosine kinase domain. Replacement of tyrosine 1294 with phenylalanine (1294F) greatly diminishes the transforming activity of BCR/ABL without affecting the specific activity of the protein tyrosine kinase. Expression of an exogenous myc gene in fibroblasts partially complements the transforming capacity of mutant P210 BCR/ABL (1294F). Surprisingly, tyrosine 1294 is not required for efficient induction of growth factor-independence in hematopoietic cell lines by P210 BCR/ABL. These results suggest that autophosphorylation at tyrosine 1294 may be important for recognition and phosphorylation of cellular substrates in the pathway of transformation, but it is not critical for mediating the events which lead to growth factor independence.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Oncogenic activation of c-ABL by mutation within its last exon.

The c-ABL proto-oncogene is a predominantly nuclear localized tyrosine kinase. A random mutagenesis scheme was used to isolate c-ABL mutants whose expression produced a transformed phenotype in rodent fibroblast cells. An in-frame deletion within the central region of the last exon was identified in one ABL mutant. The mechanism of c-ABL oncogenic activation by mutation within the last exon differs both functionally and structurally from those of v-ABL and BCR/ABL. This class of ABL mutants shows increased tyrosine phosphorylation of cellular proteins in vivo but low levels of autophosphorylation. Last-exon ABL mutants are distinguished from v-ABL or BCR/ABL by their inability to transform primary bone marrow cells or support the growth of transformed pre-B cells. These findings define a new mechanism of oncogenic activation for the ABL kinase through mutations in the last exon which do not require amino-terminal deletions or mutations within the src homology regions.

3T3 Cells↗
PubMed1992

A GDP dissociation inhibitor that serves as a GTPase inhibitor for the Ras-like protein CDC42Hs.

Members of the family of Ras-related guanosine triphosphate (GTP) binding proteins appear to take part in the regulation of a number of biological processes, including cell growth and differentiation. Three different classes of proteins that regulate the GTP binding and GTP hydrolytic activities of the Ras family members have been identified. These different regulatory proteins inhibit guanosine diphosphate (GDP) dissociation (designated as GDIs), stimulate GDP dissociation and GDP-GTP exchange (designated as GDSs), or stimulate GTP hydrolysis (designated as GAPs). In the case of the Ras-like protein CDC42Hs, which is the human homolog of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell division cycle protein, the GDI protein also inhibited both the intrinsic and GAP-stimulated hydrolysis of GTP. These findings establish an additional role for the GDI protein--namely, as a guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) inhibitory protein for a Ras-like GTP binding protein.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Dominant negative MYC blocks transformation by ABL oncogenes.

A link between ABL oncogenes and MYC is suggested by the transformation synergy that is observed when MYC is expressed at high levels. Dominant negative MYC proteins were overexpressed in fibroblasts to determine if MYC complements ABL oncogene transformation or is essential for this process. Transformation by both v-abl and BCR-ABL oncogenes was reduced 5- to 10-fold, whereas transformation by the serine/threonine kinase oncogene v-mos was unaffected. Using a retrovirus construct modified to express BCR-ABL and MYC genes simultaneously, we show that dominant negative MYC suppressed transformation of primary mouse bone marrow pre-B cells by BCR-ABL. These observations demonstrate that c-MYC is essential for transformation and help define the pathway by which these proteins cause transformation.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Initiation of deregulated growth of multipotent progenitor cells by bcr-abl in vitro.

Expression of the bcr-abl oncogene in multipotent progenitor cells (MPPCs) is implicated as a key event in the development of chronic myelogenous leukemia. Bone marrow enriched for MPPCs was infected with a retrovirus that carried bcr-abl. The mixed-lineage colonies that resulted were responsive to growth factors and could differentiate. These cells later became growth factor-independent but, when injected into severe combined immunodeficient mice, were not leukemogenic. Thus, the presence of bcr-abl alone does not cause growth factor independence, although it initiates a stepwise process. This system may prove useful in the study of other oncogenes that cause leukemia.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Propagation of human blastic myeloid leukemias in the SCID mouse.

Existing in vitro culture technology does not permit the routine propagation of most human myeloid leukemias. Previous work has shown the usefulness of mice with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) for the growth of human lymphoblastic leukemia. We show here that human myeloid cell lines and bone marrow samples from patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and blast crisis of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) also grow in SCID mice. Human AML or CML cell lines (three of three lines tested) grew in the bone marrow and peripheral blood of the mice after intravenous (IV) inoculation in a pattern closely resembling human AML. To define the best conditions for the growth of primary human myeloid leukemia cells, samples were transplanted into mice at several alternative sites. Using flow cytometry and Southern analysis, mice were analyzed at defined intervals up to 36 weeks after transplantation for the presence of human cells in various tissues. For four of four patients with AML and two of two patients with blast crisis of CML, myeloblasts grew locally at the site of implantation and were detected in the murine hematopoietic tissues. In contrast, marrow implants from patients in the chronic phase of CML (six patients) showed infrequent and limited myeloid growth in the mice. These findings demonstrate that the SCID mouse is a reproducible system for the propagation of blastic human myeloid leukemias. The differential growth of early- versus late-phase CML suggests that the SCID mouse may be a useful assay for identifying biologically aggressive leukemias early in their clinical presentation.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1992

A limited set of SH2 domains binds BCR through a high-affinity phosphotyrosine-independent interaction.

SH2 (src homology region 2) domains are implicated in protein-protein interactions involved in signal transduction pathways. Isolated SH2 domains bind proteins that are tyrosine phosphorylated. A novel, phosphotyrosine-independent binding interaction between BCR, the Philadelphia chromosome breakpoint cluster region gene product, and the SH2 domain of its translocation partner c-ABL has recently been reported. We have examined the ability of additional SH2 domains to bind phosphotyrosine-free BCR and compared this with their ability to bind tyrosine-phosphorylated c-ABL 1b. Of 11 individual SH2 domains examined, 8 exhibited relatively high affinity for c-ABL 1b, whereas only 4 exhibited relatively high affinity for BCR. Binding of tyrosine-phosphorylated c-ABL 1b by the relatively high-affinity ABL and ARG SH2 domains was quantitatively analyzed, and equilibrium dissociation constants for both interactions were estimated to be in the range of 5 x 10(-7) M. The ABL SH2 domain exhibited relatively high affinity for phosphotyrosine-free BCR as well; however, this interaction appears to be about two orders of magnitude weaker than binding of tyrosine-phosphorylated c-ABL 1b. The ARG SH2 domain exhibited relatively weak affinity for BCR and was determined to bind about 10-fold less strongly than the ABL SH2 domain. The ABL and ARG SH2 domains differ by only 10 of 91 amino acids, and the substitution of ABL-specific amino acids into either the amino- or carboxy-terminal half of the ARG SH2 domain was found to increase its affinity for BCR. We discuss these results in terms of a model which has been proposed for peptide binding by class I histocompatibility glycoproteins.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

The BCR gene encodes a novel serine/threonine kinase activity within a single exon.

Sequences encoded by the first exon of BCR that bind to the ABL SH2 domain are essential for the activation of the ABL tyrosine kinase and transforming potential of the chimeric BCR-ABL oncogene. The normal cellular BCR gene encodes a 160,000 dalton phosphoprotein associated with a serine/threonine kinase activity, but it shows only weak dispersed homologies to protein kinases. p160c-BCR was purified to apparent homogeneity as an oligomer of greater than 600,000 daltons that contains autophosphorylation activity and transphosphorylation activity for several protein substrates. A region containing paired cysteine residues within the 426 amino acids encoded by the first exon of BCR is essential for its novel phosphotransferase activity, which overlaps with the strong SH2-binding regions. The recent demonstration of a GTPase-activating function within the C-terminal portion of BCR suggests that the protein kinase and SH2-binding domains may work in concert with other regions of the molecule in intracellular signalling processes.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

BCR sequences essential for transformation by the BCR-ABL oncogene bind to the ABL SH2 regulatory domain in a non-phosphotyrosine-dependent manner.

BCR-ABL is a chimeric oncogene implicated in the pathogenesis of Philadelphia chromosome-positive human leukemias. BCR first exon sequences specifically activate the tyrosine kinase and transforming potential of BCR-ABL. We have tested the hypothesis that activation of BCR-ABL may involve direct interaction between BCR sequences and the tyrosine kinase regulatory domains of ABL. Full-length c-BCR as well as BCR sequences retained in BCR-ABL bind specifically to the SH2 domain of ABL. The binding domain has been localized within the first exon of BCR and consists of at least two SH2-binding sites. This domain is essential for BCR-ABL-mediated transformation. Phosphoserine/phosphothreonine but not phosphotyrosine residues on BCR are required for interaction with the ABL SH2 domain. These findings extend the range of potential SH2-protein interactions in growth control pathways and suggest a function for SH2 domains in the activation of the BCR-ABL oncogene as well as a role for BCR in cellular signaling pathways.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

Evidence for regulation of the human ABL tyrosine kinase by a cellular inhibitor.

Phosphotyrosine cannot be detected on normal human ABL protein-tyrosine kinases, but activated oncogenic forms of the human ABL protein are phosphorylated on tyrosine in vivo. Activation of ABL can occur by substitution of the ABL first exon with breakpoint cluster region (BCR) sequences or by deletion of the noncatalytic SH3 (src homology region 3) domain. An alternative mode for the activation of the ABL kinases is hyperexpression at greater than 500-fold over endogenous levels. This is not a consequence of transphosphorylation of the hyperexpressed ABL molecules. ABL proteins translated in vitro lack phosphotyrosine, but tyrosine kinase activity is uncovered after immunoprecipitation and removal of lysate components. The rates of dephosphorylation of ABL and BCR-ABL fusion protein by phosphotyrosine-specific phosphatases are approximately the same. These combined results indicate that inhibition of ABL activity is reversible and suggest that a cellular component interacts noncovalently with ABL to inhibit its autophosphorylation.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Hyperexpression of interleukin-7 is not necessary or sufficient for transformation of a pre-B lymphoid cell line.

Interleukin-7 (IL-7) is a potent stimulator of pre-B-lymphocyte proliferation. Pre-B cells transformed by a variety of oncogenes including those of the ABL protein tyrosine kinase family were screened for endogenous IL-7 mRNA expression by polymerase chain reaction and a sensitive bioassay for secreted IL-7. Some v-abl but none of the BCR/ABL, v-src, v-fms, v-myc, v-ras, or v-raf transformants analyzed contained elevated IL-7 transcripts. None of the cell lines secreted detectable bioactivity. We overexpressed IL-7 via a retroviral vector in an IL-7-dependent pre-B cell line to assess the potential for autocrine growth stimulation and malignant transformation. We achieved dramatic deregulation of IL-7 translational suppression by removing portions of the 5' flanking region. Levels of IL-7 expression much greater than those needed to establish factor-independent growth did not induce colony formation in agar by IL-7-expressing pre-B cell lines, and the majority of these lines were nontumorigenic in syngeneic mice. The same pre-B cell line transformed by v-abl displayed a highly malignant phenotype while containing dramatically lower IL-7 transcript levels. We conclude that endogenous IL-7 expression is not a necessary event in transformation of pre-B cells, nor is it sufficient to explain the malignant phenotype in v-abl-transformed cells. Up regulation of endogenous IL-7 expression in some transformed pre-B cells may be one of several synergistic events which can lead to malignant conversion.

Abelson murine leukemia virus↗
PubMed1991

BCR first exon sequences specifically activate the BCR/ABL tyrosine kinase oncogene of Philadelphia chromosome-positive human leukemias.

The c-abl proto-oncogene encodes a cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase which is homologous to the src gene product in its kinase domain and in the upstream kinase regulatory domains SH2 (src homology region 2) and SH3 (src homology region 3). The murine v-abl oncogene product has lost the SH3 domain as a consequence of N-terminal fusion of gag sequences. Deletion of the SH3 domain is sufficient to render the murine c-abl proto-oncogene product transforming when myristylated N-terminal membrane localization sequences are also present. In contrast, the human BCR/ABL oncogene of the Philadelphia chromosome translocation has an intact SH3 domain and its product is not myristylated at the N terminus. To analyze the contribution of BCR-encoded sequences to BCR/ABL-mediated transformation, the effects of a series of deletions and substitutions were assessed in fibroblast and hematopoietic-cell transformation assays. BCR first-exon sequences specifically potentiate transformation and tyrosine kinase activation when they are fused to the second exon of otherwise intact c-ABL. This suggests that BCR-encoded sequences specifically interfere with negative regulation of the ABL-encoded tyrosine kinase, which would represent a novel mechanism for the activation of nonreceptor tyrosine kinase-encoding proto-oncogenes.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Characterization of the BCR promoter in Philadelphia chromosome-positive and -negative cell lines.

The t(9;22) Philadelphia chromosome translocation fuses 5' regulatory and coding sequences of the BCR gene to the c-ABL proto-oncogene. This results in the formation of hybrid BCR-ABL mRNAs and proteins. The shift in ABL transcriptional control to the BCR promoter may play a role in cellular transformation mediated by this rearrangement. We have functionally localized the BCR promoter to a region 1 kb 5' of BCR exon 1 coding sequences by using a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene assay. Nucleotide sequence analysis of this region revealed many consensus binding sequences for transcription factor SP1 as well as two potential CCAAT box binding factor sites and one putative helix-loop-helix transcription factor binding site. No TATA-like or "initiator" element sequences were found. Because of low steady-state levels of BCR mRNA and the high GC content (78%) of the promoter region, definitive mapping of transcription start sites required artificial amplification of BCR promoter-directed transcripts. Overexpression from the BCR promoter in a COS cell system was effective in demonstrating multiple transcription initiation sites. In order to assess the effects of chromosomal translocation on the transcriptional control of the BCR gene, we determined S1 nuclease protection patterns of poly(A)+ RNA from tumor cell lines. No differences were observed in the locations and levels of BCR transcription initiation sites between those lines that harbored the t(9;22) translocation and those that did not. This demonstrates that BCR promoter function remains intact in spite of genomic rearrangement. The BCR promoter is structurally similar to the ABL promoters. Together, this suggests that the structural fusion of BCR-ABL and not its transcriptional deregulation is primarily responsible for the transforming effect of the t(9;22) translocation.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

Differences in oncogenic potency but not target cell specificity distinguish the two forms of the BCR/ABL oncogene.

Two forms of activated BCR/ABL proteins, P210 and P185, that differ in BCR-derived sequences, are associated with Philadelphia chromosome-positive leukemias. One of these diseases is chronic myelogenous leukemia, an indolent disease arising in hematopoietic stem cells that is almost always associated with the P210 form of BCR/ABL. Acute lymphocytic leukemia, a more aggressive malignancy, can be associated with both forms of BCR/ABL. While it is virtually certain that BCR/ABL plays a central role in both of these diseases, the features that determine the association of a particular form with a given disease have not been elucidated. We have used the bone marrow reconstitution leukemogenesis model to test the hypothesis that BCR sequences influence the ability of activated ABL to transform different types of hematopoietic cells. Our studies reveal that both P185 and P210 induce a similar spectrum of hematological diseases, including granulocytic, myelomonocytic, and lymphocytic leukemias. Despite the similarity of the disease patterns, animals given P185-infected marrow developed a more aggressive disease after a shorter latent period than those given P210-infected marrow. These data demonstrate that the structure of the BCR/ABL oncoprotein does not affect the type of disease induced by each form of the oncogene but does control the potency of the oncogenic signal.

Animals↗