Reciprocal regulation of extracellular signal regulated kinase 1/2 and mitogen activated protein kinase phosphatase-3

Nicholette A. Zeliadt, Laura J Mauro, Elizabeth V Wattenberg

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

Mitogen activated protein kinase phosphatase-3 (MKP-3) is a putative tumor suppressor. When transiently overexpressed, MKP-3 dephosphorylates and inactivates extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2. Little is known about the roles of endogenous MKP-3, however. We previously showed that MKP-3 is upregulated in cell lines that express oncogenic Ras. Here we tested the roles of endogenous MKP-3 in modulating ERK1/2 under conditions of chronic stimulation of the Ras/Raf/MEK1/2/ERK1/2 pathway by expression of oncogenic Ras. We used two cell lines: H-ras MCF10A, breast epithelial cells engineered to express H-Ras, and DLD-1, colon cancer cells that express endogenous Ki-Ras. First, we found that MKP-3 acts in a negative feedback loop to suppress basal ERK1/2 when oncogenic Ras stimulates the Ras/Raf/MEK1/2/ERK1/2 cascade. ERK1/2 was required to maintain elevated MKP-3, indicative of a negative feedback loop. Accordingly, knockdown of MKP-3, via siRNA, increased ERK1/2 phosphorylation. Second, by using siRNA, we found that MKP-3 helps establish the sensitivity of ERK1/2 to extracellular activators by limiting the duration of ERK1/2 phosphorylation. Third, we found that the regulation of ERK1/2 by MKP-3 is countered by the complex regulation of MKP-3 by ERK1/2. Potent ERK1/2 activators stimulated the loss of MKP-3 within 30 min due to an ERK1/2-dependent decrease in MKP-3 protein stability. MKP-3 levels recovered within 120 min due to ERK1/2-dependent resynthesis. Preventing MKP-3 resynthesis, via siRNA, prolonged ERK1/2 phosphorylation. Altogether, these results suggest that under the pressure of oncogenic Ras expression, MKP-3 reins in ERK1/2 by serving in ERK1/2-dependent negative feedback pathways.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)408-417
Number of pages10
JournalToxicology and Applied Pharmacology
Volume232
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 1 2008

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Dr. Aree Moon for her generous contribution of the H-ras MCF10A and parental MCF10A cell lines, Margaret Byrne, Ngozika Okoye, and Aaron Charlson for their technical assistance with preliminary studies, and William C. Ratcliff for his assistance with statistical analysis. This work was supported by National Institutes of Health grant RO1-CA104609 (to E.V. W.). The National Institutes of Health was not involved in study design, collection, analysis, or interpretation of data, writing the manuscript, or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Keywords

  • Extracellular signal regulated kinase
  • Mitogen activated protein kinase phosphatase-3
  • Ras

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