Rac and Raf promote activation of the ERKs through phosphorylation of MEK1 and Raf1 to activate ERK1/2 via MEK1/2 (27)

Rac and Raf promote activation of the ERKs through phosphorylation of MEK1 and Raf1 to activate ERK1/2 via MEK1/2 (27). activation of the Ras/MAPK pathway and PI-3K (Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase)(9, 10). Here we have examined the molecular consequences of CD13 crosslinking and signal transduction in detail and discovered that CD13 crosslinking leads to activation of the FAK, Src and ERK kinases and the tyrosine phosphorylation of CD13 itself. This phosphorylation enables CD13 to associate with cytoskeletal adapter proteins such as -actinin and IQGAP and induces cytoskeletal changes, enabling tyrosine kinase-dependent adhesion. Importantly, mutation of the single tyrosine (Tyr6) to phenylalanine in the CD13 cytoplasmic tail completely abrogated crosslinking-induced monocytic adhesion when expressed in monocytic cells and significantly impaired trafficking to the inflamed peritoneum, further validating CD13 as a signal transducing monocytic adhesion molecule. Materials and Methods Reagents Reagents were obtained from the following sources: U937 cells- ATCC (Manassas, VA); WEHI 78/24 monocytic cell line- Dr. Catherine Hedrick (La Jolla Institute for Immunology); mouse anti-human mAb CD13 (clone 452)- Dr. Meenhard Herlyn (The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology, Philadelphia, PA); Anti-phosphotyrosine, anti- actinin and anti-IQGAP1 antibodies-BD Biosciences (San Jose, CA); Control mouse IgG- Biolegend (San Diego, CA); TRITC-phalloidin, anti-GAPDH and -tubulin antibody, fluorescent PKH26 and PKH67- Sigma (St. Louis, MO). Anti- actin antibody- Abcam (Cambridge, MA), anti-phospho-Src and phospho-FAK (Cell Signaling, Danvers, MA). HRP-conjugated secondary antibodies- KPL (Gaithersburg, MD); Src kinase inhibitors (PP2 and Herbimycin), PD 98059 and Syk inhibitor- EMD Millipore (San Diego, CA) FAK inhibitor and anti-phospho-ERK (Santa Cruz Biotech). Mice CD13 global KO mice were generated at the Gene targeting and Transgenic Facility at University of Connecticut (8). For all those experiments 6-8 week old FVB mice were used in accordance with Institutional and Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare guidelines. Retroviral Vector Construction Cyclamic Acid and Contamination Both full-length human (11) and mouse (12) CD13 cDNA were individually cloned into pcDNA/V5/GW/D-TOPO (Invitrogen, San Diego, CA). The V5 tagged CD13 was then excised and cloned into the retroviral expression vector pBM-IRES-Puro (13). Mutation of human and mouse CD13 tyrosine6 to phenylalanine (Y6F) was done using QuikChange II Site-Directed Mutagenesis Kits (Santa Clara, CA). High titer virus preparations were obtained using the Phoenix amphotropic packaging cell line (Orbigen, San Diego, CA) as previously described (14). For contamination of WEHI-78/24 cells, 1 105 cells were resuspended in 5 mL virus stock in a 15 mL conical tube and centrifuged at Cyclamic Acid 800 g for 30 min at 32 C in the presence of 5 g/ml polybrene. After contamination, cells were cultured for 72 h in DMEM supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, antibiotics, L-glutamine. CD13-V5 overexpressing cells were enriched by puromycin selection (1 g/ml for 36 h). Quantitative cell adhesion assay and CD13 cross-linking Monocyte adhesion assays were performed as described previously (7). In brief calcein labeled U937 monocytic cells were treated with activating IL1RA anti-CD13 452 mAb for 30 min with or without kinase inhibitor pretreatment, washed and Cyclamic Acid allowed to adhere to human CD13 expressing C33A monolayer cells for indicated time intervals, lysed and fluorescence read at 485/530 nm and expressed as relative fluorescence unit (RFU). For cross-linking of CD13 on U937 or WEHI 78/24 monocytes, cells were incubated with control IgG or anti-CD13 452 mAb in buffer A (HBSS, 20.0 mM HEPES and 0.1 % BSA) or culture medium with 10.0% FBS for indicated time at 37C in a humidified 5% CO2 incubator. Immunoblotting Immediately after cross-linking, the reaction was stopped by adding 5 mL of cold PBS and washed once. Cells were lysed in 1.0% NP-40 lysis Cyclamic Acid buffer (20.0 mM HEPES pH 7.4, 150 mM NaCl and 1.0% NP-40) with protease inhibitor cocktail (Roche) and phosphatase inhibitors. Lysates were cleared by centrifugation at 7,000 rpm for 15 min. Proteins or immunoprecipitates were diluted with 4 sample buffer and resolved by 10% SDS-PAGE and electrotransfered onto a polyvinylidene difluoride membrane (Millipore, Bedford, MA) followed by probing with the relevant primary Ab (1:1000), followed by HRP-conjugated secondary Ab (1:5000) and detected using the ECL- kit (Thermoscientific, USA)..