Oncogene database

2268

FGR

FGR proto-oncogene, Src family tyrosine kinase;FGR;FGR proto-oncogene, Src family tyrosine kinase

Gardner-Rasheed feline sarcoma viral (v-fgr) oncogene homolog|c-fgr protooncogene|c-src-2 proto-oncogene|feline Gardner-Rasheed sarcoma viral oncogene homolog|p55-c-fgr protein|proto-oncogene c-Fgr|proto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase FGR|tyrosine-prote

1p36.2-p36.1

protein-coding

In an attempt to clarify the chronological relationships between Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection, B cell immortalization and c-fgr activation, we evaluated for the presence of EBV-determined nuclear antigen (EBNA), cellular DNA synthesis and expression of c-fgr-specific RNA following infection of human peripheral blood lymphocytes with B95-8 EBV. High expression of c-fgr was observed prior to EBNA detection and cellular DNA synthesis in EBV-infected cells. These results suggest that activation of c-fgr is an essential event during the early phase of EBV immortalization.

The human locus (novH) corresponding to the nov protooncogene overexpressed in avian nephroblastoma has been identified and mapped on chromosome 8q24.1. Another locus sharing homology with novH and corresponding to the connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) gene has also been mapped on chromosome 6q23.1. The chromosomal assignment of nov and CTGF proximal to c-myc and c-myb respectively is of interest because chromosomal abnormalities involving these regions have been associated with different human tumors including Wilms .

Fgr participates in integrin signaling in myeloid leukocytes. To examine the role of its specific domains in regulating cell migration, we expressed various Fgr molecules in COS-7 cells. Full-length, membrane-bound Fgr, but not an N-terminal truncation mutant that distributed to an intracellular compartment, increased cell migration on fibronectin and enhanced phosphorylation of the p85 subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), cortactin and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) at Y397 and Y576. Fgr increased Rac GTP loading, and phosphorylation of the Rac GEF Vav2, and bound to a protein complex formed by the Rho inhibitor p190RhoGAP and FAK, increasing p190RhoGAP phosphorylation, in a manner absolutely dependent on membrane localization. A kinase-defective truncation mutant of Fgr increased cell migration, albeit to a much lower extent than full-length Fgr, and was found to associate with the plasma membrane, to activate Rac and to form complexes with p190RhoGAP/FAK. Formation of complexes between p190RhoGAP, Fgr, and the FAK-related protein Pyk2 were also detected in murine macrophages. These findings suggest that the proto-oncogene Fgr regulates cell migration impinging on a signaling pathway implicating FAK/Pyk2 and leading to activation of Rac and the Rho inhibitor p190RhoGAP.

The c-fgr proto-oncogene, which is a member of the c-src gene family, encodes the cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase p55c-fgr. expression of the c-fgr gene is activated in human B lymphocytes following infection with Epstein-Barr virus, and the viral protein EBNA-2 is involved in mediating this effect. The only normal cells in which the c-fgr gene is known to be expressed are peripheral-blood granulocytes and monocytes, and tissue macrophages. In accordance with this, levels of c-fgr mRNA increase when the human promonocytic cell line U937 and the human myelomonocytic cell line HL60 are induced to differentiate. The enzyme activity and the expression pattern of p55c-fgr suggest that it is involved in regulating the responses of terminally differentiated granulocytes and monocytes to external stimuli, perhaps by controlling changes in cytoskeletal structure.

Here we report the isolation of cosmid clones containing the whole of the human c-fgr proto-oncogene. We have used these to determine the organization and nucleotide sequence of the exons upstream of exon 4, which have not previously been analysed. We show that, like exons 4 to 12, exon 3 closely resembles its counterpart in the avian c-src and murine lck genes. In contrast, the organization of the upstream exons of c-fgr differs markedly. In particular, the 5 untranslated regions of the c-fgr gene is interrupted by an extra intron. We have also mapped multiple transcriptional start sites within the 5 flanking region of the c-fgr gene and present an analysis of the nucleotide sequences within this region which may be responsible for regulating c-fgr expression.

The c-fgr proto-oncogene specifies a nonreceptor protein-tyrosine kinase, p55c-fgr, a member of the src family. In the present study, we have mutagenized c-fgr to mimic alterations found at the 3 end of the v-fgr oncogene and have investigated the biologic effects of normal and mutant p55c-fgr expression. Genes lacking 10 or 13 codons at the 3 end, as well as a gene encoding phenylalanine instead of tyrosine at codon 523, were potent oncogenes when transfected into NIH 3T3 cells. Specific enzymatic activities of the more highly transforming gene products were 3-4-fold greater than that of p55c-fgr. In vivo, the amount of tyrosine phosphorylation of cellular proteins was directly proportional to potency in focus-forming assays. These findings are the first to identify highly transforming mutations of the c-fgr proto-oncogene. The proto-oncogene was also active in transforming assays, demonstrably greater than that of a kinase-deficient mutant. Foci arising in c-fgr-transfected cultures expressed abundant enzyme that was normal by a number of criteria. In addition, growth rates for cells expressing p55c-fgr were restricted, as compared with cells expressing a kinase-deficient protein or cells transformed by proteins with high specific enzymatic activities. Thus, enzymatically active p55c-fgr can simultaneously activate transforming and growth inhibitory pathways.

We and others have previously shown that in vitro conversion of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-negative Burkitt lymphoma (BL) cell lines with the immortalizing B95-8 strain of EBV results in a marked elevation in levels of c-fgr proto-oncogene mRNA. We now show, using a nuclear run-off assay, that this induction results from an increase in the rate of transcription of the c-fgr gene. We also show that BL cell lines freshly converted with the non-immortalizing HR-I strain of EBV do not accumulate higher levels of c-fgr mRNA, suggesting that EBNA-2 and/or LMP, the genes which are deleted in the HR-I strain, may be involved in the pathway which leads to changes in c-fgr gene expression. In order to assess the generality of a role for the c-fgr gene in the response of B-lymphocytes to EBV-infection, which is controversial, we have analysed c-fgr expression in 6 freshly immortalized cell lines established by EBV (B95-8) infection of B-lymphocytes from the peripheral blood of normal adults and of adults with rheumatoid arthritis, from cord blood, and from foetal liver. ALL 6 cell lines expressed c-fgr mRNA at elevated levels compared to EBV-negative BL cell lines.

In this study, we show that c-fgr proto-oncogene expression is limited to normal peripheral blood granulocytes, monocytes, and alveolar macrophages, ALL of which contain 50 to 100 copies of c-fgr mRNA per cell. The c-fgr RNA molecules in these cells consisted of partially spliced transcripts containing intron 7 and completely spliced molecules capable of encoding the predicted p55 c-fgr protein. The splicing of intron 7 appeared to occur after the splicing of most of the other introns; partially spliced molecules containing intron 7 did not appear to be transported into the cytoplasm. Very low levels of fgr transcripts were also present in U937 promonocytic cells and increased in abundance with 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced differentiation. The level of fgr transcripts began to increase 2 to 4 h after TPA addition, peaked at 8 h, and subsequently declined. Since we found that the half-life of fgr mRNA was longer than 8 h, these changes are best explained by transient transcriptional activation of fgr during TPA-induced differentiation, although nuclear runoff experiments were not sensitive enough to detect this event. Cycloheximide also caused accumulation of c-fgr transcripts in U937 cells; no superinduction was observed when TPA and cycloheximide were added at the same time. Induction by either agent was blocked with actinomycin D. These results demonstrate that the c-fgr gene is expressed in a tissue- and development-specific fashion and suggest that constitutive expression of c-fgr in U937 cells is regulated by a labile transcriptional repressor.

The proto-oncogene c-fgr is expressed in transformed human B lymphoid cell lines and has been reported to be induced in cells infected with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). We have compared the levels of c-fgr mRNA in several B cell lines and have examined the effects of interferon-induced changes in growth rate of Daudi cells on the concentration of this mRNA. High levels were found in exponentially growing EBV-positive Raji and Daudi cells but the amounts in B95-8 and P3HR-1 cells (also EBV-positive) were lower than in the EBV-negative cell line Ramos. Growth inhibition of Daudi cells by interferon-alpha is preceded by a reduction in c-fgr expression, with a 56% decrease observed within 6 h. The differences in the amounts of c-fgr mRNA in the various cell lines and in control versus interferon-treated cells are similar to the differences in the c-myc mRNA contents of these cells. These results indicate that c-fgr expression bears little relationship to the EBV status of B lymphoid cell lines but may play a role, in conjunction with c-myc expression, in growth regulation by interferons. Other conditions which influence Daudi cell proliferation, such as treatment with a phorbol ester or growth to high cell density, also inhibit c-fgr expression but to a lesser extent than interferon treatment.

Normal murine bone marrow-derived monocytic cells were found to contain transcripts for c-fgr and hck, two members of the src family of proto-oncogene tyrosine kinases. While hck transcripts were increased only in response to bacterial lipopolysaccaride (LPS), expression of c-fgr was transiently induced both by the monocyte/macrophage proliferative stimulus CSF-1 as well as by signals which activate monocytic cells to functional states (granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), LPS, and gamma interferon). These data suggest that these highly related tyrosine kinases may differentially mediate the effects of distinct monocyte/macrophage stimuli; and, that the c-fgr proto-oncogene in particular, which in normal cells is selectively expressed in monocytes, may play a pivotal functional role in these cells. A 2.2 kb cDNA clone, containing a 1551 base pair open reading frame encoding a protein with ALL of the hallmarks of a protein-tyrosine kinase, was isolated from a cDNA library made from RNA of CSF-1-stimulated bone marrow-derived monocytic cells. This clone had the highest homology to v-fgr and likely encodes the murine c-fgr transcript expressed by normal monocytes. However, when compared to sequences previously reported for human c-fgr derived from EBV-transformed B cells and heterogeneous peripheral blood cells, the c-fgr cDNA derived from normal murine monocytic cells differed significantly in sequence from amino acids 12-62 in the amino terminal domain of the protein which may mediate the substrate specificity and subcellular location of the src family of protein-tyrosine kinases.

Several acute transforming retroviruses encode tyrosine-specific protein kinases which possess structural and functional relationships to cell-surface receptors for certain growth factors. One such tyrosine kinase is encoded by the onc gene, v-fgr, of Gardner-Rasheed feline sarcoma virus (GR-FeSV). Recently, we have isolated and characterized the human gene, c-fgr, corresponding to the viral onc sequence and have shown that c-fgr is a unique gene located on the short arm of chromosome 1 (ref. 7). Here we report that certain lymphomas (but not sarcomas or carcinomas) express fgr-related messenger RNA. This transcript is detected in Burkitt s lymphoma cell lines naturally infected with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), but not in EBV-negative Burkitt s lymphoma cells. Normal umbilical cord or peripheral blood lymphocyte lines established in vitro by EBV infection also contain detectable c-fgr mRNA. Moreover, a 50-fold increase of the steady-state c-fgr mRNA concentration is observed when uninfected Burkitt s lymphoma cell lines are deliberately infected with EBV. These findings demonstrate for the first time the induction of a proto-oncogene in response to infection by a DNA tumour virus.

Normal human c-fgr cDNA clones were constructed by using normal peripheral blood mononuclear cell mRNA as a template. Nucleotide sequence analysis of two such clones revealed a 1,587-base-pair-long open reading frame which predicted the primary amino acid sequence of the c-fgr translational product. Homology of this protein with the v-fgr translational product stretched from codons 128 to 516, where 32 differences among 388 codons were observed. Sequence similarity with human c-src, c-yes, and fyn translational products began at amino acid position 76 of the predicted c-fgr protein and extended nearly to its C-terminus. In contrast, the stretch of 75 amino acids at the N-terminus demonstrated a greatly reduced degree of relatedness to these same proteins. To verify the deduced amino acid sequence, antibodies were prepared against peptides representing amino- and carboxy-terminal regions of the predicted c-fgr translational product. Both antibodies specifically recognized a 55-kilodalton protein expressed in COS-1 cells transfected with a c-fgr cDNA expression plasmid. Moreover, the same protein was immunoprecipitated from an Epstein-Barr virus-infected Burkitt s lymphoma cell line which expressed c-fgr mRNA but not in its uninfected fgr mRNA-negative counterpart. These findings identified the 55-kilodalton protein as the product of the human fgr protooncogene.

Two c-fgr cDNA clones were isolated from a cDNA library derived from a human B lymphocyte cell line, IM-9. Sequence analysis of the clones showed that they contained inserts corresponding to nearly full-length human c-fgr mRNA, which could encode a polypeptide of 529 amino acids with a calculated molecular weight of 59,478. Although the amino acid sequence between Gly-78 and the carboxy-terminus of the c-fgr is highly homologous to the corresponding sequence of the c-yes protein, the homology between the two proteins is low in the amino-terminal proximal region. Northern blot hybridization analysis using the c-fgr specific sequence showed that the c-fgr mRNA was expressed at higher level in the liver than in the brain, lung, or kidney of a human fetus.

expression of the c-fgr proto-oncogene is activated during differentiation of myeloid cells. We used a luciferase reporter assay to identify sequences that regulate c-fgr gene transcription during differentiation of human U937 promonocytic cells, induced by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) or by tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol (1,25-DHCC). We found that the region from nucleotides -344 to -116, with respect to the transcriptional start site, is required for basal activity of the c-fgr promoter in U937 cells, and that the region from nucleotides -1211 to -752 is responsive to PMA. No sequence elements responsive to TNF-alpha and 1,25-DHCC were found, suggesting that these agents induce c-fgr mRNA accumulation by a mechanism differing from that mediating the effects of PMA.

The proto-oncogene c-fgr is a member of the c-src gene family of cytoplasmic tyrosine kinases. Previous studies have suggested that it is normally expressed in neutrophils, monocytes, macrophages, and natural killer cells. c-fgr is also expressed in the B cells of certain lymphoproliferative disorders, namely, Epstein-Barr virus-associated lymphoproliferative disease, and in chronic lymphocytic leukemia, but it has not previously been detected in normal or reactive human lymphoid tissue. In this study we have determined the pattern of p55c-fgr protein expression in normal human hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues at the single-cell level using immunohistochemical and immunofluorescent techniques. We show that p55c-fgr expression is developmentally regulated with high-level expression first evident at the myelocyte stage of myeloid differentiation. In addition, we show that p55c-fgr is expressed in circulating B lymphocytes isolated from chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients but is not expressed in normal circulating B lymphocytes. Surprisingly, p55c-fgr is also expressed in a subpopulation of normal B lymphocytes, the mantle zone B lymphocytes. This demonstration that p55c-fgr is expressed in a normal B-lymphocyte subpopulation suggests that its expression in certain B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders may be an indirect consequence of, rather than a primary cause of, the neoplastic transformation process.

The c-fgr proto-oncogene is expressed in Burkitt s lymphoma (BL) cell and cell lines derived from them. When Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-negative BL cell lines that contain low levels of c-fgr mRNA are infected with EBV, transcription of the c-fgr gene is further induced. In this paper we show that treatment of EBV-negative and EBV-positive BL cell lines with all-trans retinoic acid also stimulates an increase in c-fgr mRNA levels, varying between 2- and 13-fold depending on the cell line. An increase is detectable 12 to 48 h after treatment, depending on the cell line, suggesting that the c-fgr gene is not regulated directly by retinoic acid but responds to other retinoic acid-induced changes in the cell. We also show that treatment of BL cell lines with all-trans retinoic acid either results in a dose-dependent decrease in growth rate, or has no effect on growth, depending on the cell line. It has previously been suggested that the c-fgr gene product might have a role in regulating the growth of BL cells, since treatment of the EBV-positive BL cell line Daudi with alpha-interferon results in a decrease in c-fgr mRNA levels followed by a decrease in growth rate. Our data indicate that there is no general correlation between c-fgr mRNA levels and growth rate in BL cells and so argue against a role for the c-fgr gene product in growth regulation in these cells.

TPK-III, a tyrosine-protein-kinase fraction previously isolated from rat spleen [Brunati, A. M. & Pinna, L. A. (1988) Eur. J. Biochem. 172, 451-457] has been further purified and resolved by Mono-Q FPLC into two homogeneous compounds, Q1 and Q2, with molecular mass approximately 52 kDa, exhibiting high specific activities for phosphate incorporation into the phosphoacceptor substrate poly(Glu80Tyr20) (1194 nmol.min-1 x mg-1 and 579 nmol.min-1 x mg-1, respectively). Both Q1 and Q2 appear to be scr-related enzymes since they are readily recognised by anti-SEEP serum raised against the highly conserved segment at positions 330-345 of p60c-scr. Q1, but not Q2, interacts with a specific antibody raised against the N-terminal segment of p55c-fgr. Microsequence analysis of tryptic fragments generated from Q1 revealed five peptides which exactly overlap the expected segments of p55c-fgr. Two of these peptides were not entirely conserved in any of the other src-related tyrosine protein kinases. A sixth fragment is very similar, albeit not identical, to the C-terminus of p55c-fgr. Microsequence analysis of two tryptic fragments from the other TPK-III fraction, Q2, provided the sequences FQILNSSE and LTTQETGYIPSNY, which are identical to two segments of fyn not entirely conserved in any of the other src-related tyrosine protein kinases. These results provide evidence that the spleen tyrosine-protein-kinase fraction, conventionally designated TPK-III, is composed of products from two proto-oncogenes, one of which corresponds to fyn, while the other is either identical or very closely related to c-fgr.