Oncogene database

4168

MCF2

MCF.2 cell line derived transforming sequence;MCF2;MCF.2 cell line derived transforming sequence

Oncogene MCF2 (oncogene DBL)|proto-oncogene DBL|proto-oncogene MCF-2

Xq27

protein-coding

The Rho family of GTP-binding proteins has been implicated in the regulation of various cellular functions including actin cytoskeleton-dependent morphological change. Its activity is directed by intracellular signals mediated by various types of receptors such as G protein-coupled receptors. However, the mechanisms underlying receptor-dependent regulation of Rho family members remain incompletely understood. The guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) Dbl targets Rho family proteins thereby stimulating their GDP/GTP exchange, and thus is believed to be involved in receptor-mediated regulation of the proteins. Here, we show the association of Dbl with G protein betagamma subunits (Gbetagamma) in transient co-expression and cell-free systems. An amino-terminal portion conserved among a subset of Dbl family proteins is sufficient for the binding of Gbetagamma. In fact, Ost and Kalirin, which contain this Gbetagamma-binding motif, also associate with Gbetagamma. c-Jun N-terminal kinase was synergistically activated upon co-expression of Dbl and Gbeta in a dominant-negative Rho-sensitive manner. However, GEF activity of Dbl toward Rho as measured by in vitro GDP binding assays remained unaffected following Gbetagamma binding, suggesting that additional signals may be required for the regulation of Dbl.

The Dbl family guanine-nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) for Rho GTPases share the structural array of a Dbl homology (DH) domain in tandem with a Pleckstrin homology (PH) domain. For oncogenic Dbl, the DH domain is responsible for the GEF activity, and the DH-PH module constitutes the minimum structural unit required for cellular transformation. To understand the structure-function relationship of the DH domain, we have investigated the role of specific residues of the DH domain of Dbl in interaction with Rho GTPases and in Dbl-induced transformation. Alanine substitution mutagenesis identified a panel of DH mutants made in the alpha1, alpha6, and alpha9 regions and the PH junction site that suffer complete or partial loss of GEF activity toward Cdc42 and RhoA. Kinetic and binding analysis of these mutants revealed that although most displayed decreased k(cat) values in the GEF reaction, the substrate binding activities of T506A and R634A were significantly reduced. E502A, Q633A, and N673A/D674A, on the other hand, retained the binding capability to the Rho GTPases but lost the GEF catalytic activity. In general, the in vitro GEF activity of the DH mutants correlated with the in vivo Cdc42- and RhoA-activating potential, and the GEF catalytic efficiency mirrored the transforming activity in NIH 3T3 cells. Moreover, the N673A/D674A mutant exhibited a potent dominant-negative effect on serum-induced cell growth and caused retraction of actin structures. These studies identify important sites of the DH domain involved in binding or catalysis of Rho proteins and demonstrate that maintaining a threshold of GEF catalytic activity, in addition to the Rho GTPase binding activity, is essential for efficient transformation by oncogenic Dbl.

The dbl oncogene is generated by substitution of the 5 portion of its normal counterpart with an unrelated human sequence. To analyze the genomic structure and transcriptional regulation of the dbl proto-oncogene, we have isolated human genomic clones containing the entire human proto-dbl gene, localized in Xq26. Restriction mapping of a 600kb YAC clone (yWXD311) placed proto-dbl about 50kb telomeric to the coagulation Factor IX gene. The genomic DNA fragment containing the 5 end of proto-dbl was subcloned into plasmid vectors and the nucleotide sequences of exon 1, the flanking intronic region and genomic DNA 5 of the first codon were determined. Sequence analysis of 85119bp from the region revealed the genomic structure of proto-dbl. It contains 25 exons coding for a 4.7kb transcript including large 5 - and 3 - (1218bp and 701bp, respectively) untranslated regions (UTRs). RNase protection and primer extension assays on RNA from medullary thyroid carcinoma (TT) cells, which normally express dbl, revealed a transcription start site 1218bp upstream of the ATG of the first exon. A 1.6kb genomic 5 of the translation start sites drives the expression of a CAT-reporter in transient transfections in the TT cell line, though lacking TATA or CAAT boxes.

The DBL (MCF-2) proto-oncogene is a prototype guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) that modulates the Rho family of GTPases. In this communication we describe the isolation of three novel splicing variants of Dbl. The prototype Dbl gene (designated var.1 here) contains 25 exons, while splicing variant 2 (var.2) lacks exons 23 and 24. Var.3 contains additional 3 exons from 5( )-UTR in place of exon 1, while var.4, var.2, and var.3 contain a 48bp insertion between exons 10 and 11, resulting in the insertion of 16 amino acids. We found that var.1 was expressed only in brain, whereas var.3 was expressed in heart, kidney, spleen, liver, and testis, and var.4 in brain, heart, kidney, testis, placenta, stomach, and peripheral blood. The Dbl protein was detectable in brain, heart, kidney, intestine, muscle, lung, and testis. An assay for GEF activity revealed that the var.2 exhibits decreased GEF activity towards Cdc42, var.3 exhibits a weak but significant activity toward Rac1 and Cdc42, var.4 exhibits significant activity toward RhoA and Cdc42, while var.1 exhibits no activity toward RhoA, Rac1, or Cdc42. In summary, we describe 4 splicing variants of the human DBL proto-oncogene that show different tissue distributions and GEF specificities.

MCF-2 (DBL) proto-oncogene is a prototype guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) that modulates Rho GTPases such as Rho, Rac, and Cdc42. Although the partial sequence of mouse MCF-2 has been determined, its full-length cDNA and biochemical functions had not been elucidated. We isolated the complete mouse MCF-2 cDNA and obtained recombinant functional protein. Homology between the mouse and human MCF-2 (DBL) cDNAs is 75.08% identity and between the mouse and human amino acid sequences 74.52% identity. Analysis of tissue distribution showed that mouse MCF-2 mRNA is expressed in brain, kidney, intestine, and testis. The brain-specific transcript is an alternatively spliced derivative that omits the 48bp exon 11. A similar alternatively spliced mRNA product is also found in humans (DBL). Guanine nucleotide exchange activities of the testis-expressed mouse Mcf-2 and human Dbl were analyzed using RhoA, Rac1, and Cdc42 as substrates. RhoA and Cdc42 were activated similarly by both gene products, but Rac1 was activated only by the mouse product. The brain-specific Mcf-2 gene product, and its human counterpart, was less active than the respective testis-specific products. This indicates that the element encoded by the 48bp exon missing in the brain transcripts is necessary for full GEF activity. This report provides fundamental data on the structure of Mcf-2, which regulates a variety of cellular signaling pathways.

The dbl oncogene product is the defining member of a family of onco-proteins known as Dbl guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) that facilitate the activation of the small GTP-binding proteins Cdc42, Rac, and Rho. Oncogenic activation of proto-Dbl occurs through loss of the amino-terminal 497 residues, rendering the protein constitutively active. Because both onco- and proto-Dbl contain the structural elements required for GEF activity (i.e. the Dbl homology (DH) and pleckstrin homology (PH) domains), it is thought that the amino terminus of proto-Dbl somehow inhibits the biochemical activity of the protein. To better understand the molecular basis of this regulation, we set forth to identify cellular proteins that preferentially bind the proto-oncogenic form of Dbl. We identified the molecular chaperone heat shock cognate protein (Hsc70) as a binding partner that preferentially interacts with the proto-oncogenic form of Dbl. Dbl is complexed with Hsc70 in transfected cells, as well as in native mouse brain extracts. The interaction between Hsc70 and proto-Dbl is mediated by at least two regions in Dbl, the aminoterminal spectrin homology domain (residues 224-417) and the pleckstrin homology domain (residues 711-808). Overexpression of a dominant negative Hsc70 mutant leads to activation of proto-Dbl GEF activity, indicating that the chaperone negatively regulates proto-Dbl function in vivo. We propose that Hsc70 attenuates Dbl activity by maintaining an inactive conformation in which the amino terminus is "folded over" the catalytic DH-PH domain.

Oncogenic activation of the MCF.2 cell line-derived transforming sequence gene (MCF2) occurs through substitution of part of its 5 coding region by unrelated nonsyntenic sequences. Analysis of the MCF2 oncogene locus revealed complex recombination events involving four discontinuous human DNA segments. The upstream replacing sequence, named URS, represents the farthest 5 portion of the locus. The URS sequence maps to the D15S93 locus on human chromosome 15q15----q23.

OBJECTIVES: An abundance of X chromosomes in testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs), and a candidate TGCTs susceptibility gene (TGCT1) on Xq27 highlight the potential involvement of X chromosomes in TGCT pathogenesis. However, the TGCT1 on Xq27 has so far not been identified. We hypothesized that a somatic mutation of dbl oncogene on Xq27 may play a role for the development of TGCTs. METHODS: We have screened 41 TGCT tissues for dbl mutations using single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis. These tissues are composed of 25 seminomatous TGCTs tissues and 16 non-seminomatous TGCTs tissues, including two cases with a rhabdomyosarcoma component. RESULTS: Somatic mutations were not detected in the 25 exons of dbl in these TGCTs. However, we found a rare single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) (T to C nucleotide change) within intron 22 in one out of the 41 TGCTs cases (2%). Furthermore, the sample with the rare SNP was identified as the sole TGCTs case associated with bilateral undescended testis in our series. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that proto-oncogene dbl is not a major target for sporadic TGCTs. However, the rare SNP in dbl may affect the susceptibility to undescended testis. Determining the frequency of this SNP in patients with various types of undescended testis in different ethnic groups is a warranted study.

Among the expression vectors, the baculovirus system has been successfully developed and it has been shown to be suitable as a helper-independent viral expression vector for high level of production of recombinant proteins in cultured insect cells. The high efficiency of this system derives from the viral strong promoter of the polyhedrin gene. Recombinant viruses containing foreign DNA inserted into the polyhedrin gene, will no longer produce polyhedrin and will form plaques morphologically different from the plaques produced by the wild type virus. We have expressed, at high level, the dbl and proto-dbl proteins using the baculovirus system. dbl and proto-dbl gene products produced in insect cells resulted to have the same post-translational modifications and subcellular localization observed in dbl and proto-dbl transfectants.

BACKGROUND: The Dbl family of proteins represents a large group of proto-oncogenes involved in cell growth regulation. The numerous domains that are present in many Dbl family proteins suggest that they act to integrate multiple inputs in complicated signaling networks involving the Rho GTPases. Alterations of the normal function of these proteins lead to pathological processes such as developmental disorders and neoplastic transformation. We generated transgenic mice introducing the cDNA of Dbl oncogene linked to the metallothionein promoter into the germ line of FVB mice and found that onco-Dbl expression in mouse lenses affected proliferation, migration and differentiation of lens epithelial cells. RESULTS: We used high density oligonucleotide microarray to define the transcriptional profile induced by Dbl in the lenses of 2 days, 2 weeks, and 6 weeks old transgenic mice. We observed modulation of genes encoding proteins promoting epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), such as down-regulation of epithelial cell markers and up-regulation of fibroblast markers. Genes encoding proteins involved in the positive regulation of apoptosis were markedly down regulated while anti-apoptotic genes were strongly up-regulated. Finally, several genes encoding proteins involved in the process of angiogenesis were up-regulated. These observations were validated by histological and immunohistochemical examination of the transgenic lenses where vascularization can be readily observed. CONCLUSION: Onco-Dbl expression in mouse lens correlated with modulation of genes involved in the regulation of EMT, apoptosis and vasculogenesis leading to disruption of the lens architecture, epithelial cell proliferation, and aberrant angiogenesis. We conclude that onco-Dbl has a potentially important, previously unreported, capacity to dramatically alter epithelial cell migration, replication, polarization and differentiation and to induce vascularization of an epithelial tissue.

MCF2/DBL is an X-linked proto-oncogene encoding a protein with a yet undetermined function. It can be activated in vitro by loss of 5 sequences in NIH3T3 bioassays; in vivo, deletion of the gene has been found in some hemophilia B patients. PCR analysis of its expression in mouse tissues shows a restriction to the gonads and tissues of neuroectodermal origin. It also identifies an exon encoding 42 amino acids that is alternatively spliced in murine, but not human testis.

The Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor protoDbl is involved in different biochemical pathways affecting cell proliferation and migration. The N-terminal sequence of protoDbl contains negative regulatory elements that restrict the catalytic activity of the DH-PH module. Here, we report the identification of a new mouse protoDbl splice variant lacking exon 3. We found that the splice variant mRNA is expressed in the spleen and bone marrow lymphocytes, adrenal gland, gonads and brain. The protoDbl variant protein was detectable in the brain. The newly identified variant displays the disruption of the SEC14 domain, positioned on exons 2 and 3 in the protoDbl N-terminal region. We show here that an altered SEC14 sequence leads to enhanced Dbl translocation to the plasma membrane and to augmented transforming and exchange activity.

The mcf.2 transforming sequence was previously identified by tumorigenicity-assay of the mammary carcinoma cell line MCF-7, molecularly cloned and localized to Xq27 by in situ hybridization. cDNA clones representing both the activated gene and the corresponding portion of its normal counterpart were isolated and their nucleotide sequence determined. Sequence analysis showed that the mcf.2 gene was activated by rearrangement and loss of 5 sequences and no other alteration. Comparison of the mcf.2 nucleotide sequence with the recently published dbl sequence (Eva, A., G. Vecchio, D. Rao, S. Tronick & S. Aaronson (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 85, 2061-2065) revealed that mcf.2 and dbl represent two different activated versions of the same proto-oncogene.

The DBL oncogene was generated by rearrangements involving three discontinuous regions of the human genome. Analyses of panels of human X rodent somatic cell hybrids demonstrated that the DBL proto-oncogene located on the X chromosome (just proximal or distal to bands q26-27.2) underwent recombination at its 5 and 3 ends with sequences derived from chromosomes 3 (p13q-ter) and 16 (p13-q22), respectively. DBL was localized to chromosome Xq27-q28 by in situ hybridization. Another oncogene, MCF2, was previously shown to contain sequences derived from Xq27 as well. Comparison of the restriction maps and nucleotide sequences of genomic and cDNA clones representing the chromosome X-specific sequences of the DBL oncogene and MCF2, taken together with their chromosomal localization, indicates that these oncogenes were derived from the same genetic locus.

The translational product of the dbl oncogene is a 66 kDa (p66) protein with no apparent sequence similarity to any of the known oncogene products, whereas the human dbl proto-oncogene encodes a translational product of 115 kDa (p115). We compared proto-dbl p115 and dbl p66 with respect to their subcellular localization, biogenesis and post-translational modifications. Like p66, p115 was found to be a cytoplasmic phosphoprotein present in both cytosol and crude membrane preparations. Membrane fractionation studies revealed that p115 as well as p66 were primarily associated with fractions enriched in plasma membranes, suggesting that this subcellular compartment is a likely site of action of dbl proteins. The membrane-associated forms of p115 and p66 were fairly resistant to solubilization by nonionic detergents, suggesting that dbl proteins associate with the cytoskeletal matrix. p115 was also found to be phosphorylated primarily on serine residues. However, p115 was phosphorylated to a lesser extent as compared to the phosphorylated form of p66. The half-life of proto-dbl p115 was significantly shorter (1 hour) than that of dbl p66 (5-6 h). The higher stability of p66 is likely due to the acquisition of unrelated human sequences and/or to the deletion of the N-terminal region of proto-dbl.

We isolated cDNA clones representing the human dbl proto-oncogene transcript. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed an open reading frame encoding a predicted protein of 925 amino acids. Using peptide antisera directed against specific proto-dbl peptides, a 115-kd protein was detected in COS cells transfected with an expression vector containing the entire coding region of proto-dbl. This mol. wt is consistent with that predicted from the open reading frame. We have previously shown that the dbl oncogene was generated by substitution of the 5 portion of proto-dbl with an unrelated human sequence. In this study we show that this rearrangement resulted in the loss of the 497 amino-terminal codons of the dbl proto-oncogene. Under the influence of a strong promoter proto-dbl could readily transform NIH/3T3 cells but its transforming activity was less than that of the dbl oncogene driven by the same promoter. Proto-dbl overexpression is, therefore, sufficient to transform NIH/3T3 cells, but specific structural alterations of its coding region significantly enhance its transforming activity. No apparent similarity was detected between the predicted proto-dbl product and other known proto-oncogenes. However, a stretch of 300 amino acids within the N-terminal half of proto-dbl showed structural similarity to the intermediate filament vimentin. This region in proto-dbl contains a heptad repeat motif characteristic of an alpha-helical coiled-coil structure. Taken together, these findings indicate that the human proto-dbl represents a new class of cellular oncogenes that may be related to cytoskeletal elements of the cell.

The DBL transforming gene was originally identified by transfection of NIH 3T3 cells with DNA from a human B-cell lymphoma. This gene was found to have arisen as a result of recombination of the 3 portion of the DBL protooncogene coding sequences with an unrelated segment of human DNA. It encodes a cytoplasmic protein that is equally distributed between cytosol and crude membrane fractions. To further characterize this transforming gene, a biologically active cDNA clone of the DBL transforming gene mRNA was isolated. Analysis of the sequence of the DBL oncogene cDNA revealed a long open reading frame that encodes a hybrid protein whose first 50 amino acids (at least) derive from a complete exon of a different locus. No significant homology with known oncogenes or any known protein sequences was demonstrated. The computer analysis of the predicted DBL protein indicated it is highly hydrophilic with no hydrophobic domains characteristic of a membrane-spanning region or signal peptide. Thus, the DBL oncoprotein is distinct among known transforming gene products.

The dbl oncogene was initially isolated from a human diffuse B-cell lymphoma. Antisera from mice bearing tumors induced by this oncogene specifically detected a protein of about 66 kDa (p66) in dbl transformants. dbl cDNA-selected poly(A)+ RNA isolated from a transfectant clone expressing p66 directed the in vitro synthesis of this protein, establishing that it is encoded by dbl. Subcellular localization studies revealed that p66 is a cytoplasmic protein distributed between cytosol and crude membrane fractions. Moreover, p66 was shown to be a phosphoprotein, with phosphorylation specific to serine residues. Our characterization of the dbl-encoded protein appears to distinguish this transforming gene product from those of other known oncogenes.

The dbl oncogene product contains a 238-amino acid domain, which is shared by an expanding family of growth regulatory proteins. These include the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell division cycle protein, CDC24, the breakpoint cluster region protein, the ect2 and vav oncogene products, and the brain GDP-releasing factor for Ras. Previous studies have provided evidence that oncogenic Dbl or an associated protein stimulates GDP dissociation from the human species (Hs) homolog of CDC42. We show here that Dbl specifically complexes with the GDP-bound forms of CDC42Hs and RhoA, but not Rac1 or TC10, and that this specificity correlates with the ability of Dbl to act as a GDP-releasing factor. Small deletions throughout the Dbl domain, which inactivate transformation, eliminated the ability of Dbl to stimulate GDP dissociation, whereas deletions outside of this domain did not impair either function. Finally, the Dbl domain itself, when expressed and purified as a recombinant protein, was shown to stimulate GDP dissociation from purified, recombinant CDC42Hs. These findings establish that a minimal unit on Dbl that is critical to its transforming function directly regulates GDP-GTP exchange activity.