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1 Life Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee and 2 Department of Cell Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Center, Birmingham, Alabama
Requests for reprints: Bradley K. Yoder, Department of Cell Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Center, Birmingham, AL 35294. Phone: 205-934-0994; Fax: 205-934-0950; E-mail: byoder{at}uab.edu.
| Abstract |
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signal transduction pathways localize to the primary cilium, and that loss of the cilium blocks ligand-induced signaling by both pathways. In light of the major role that these pathways play in numerous types of cancer, we anticipate that the emerging discoveries being made about the function of the primary cilium in signaling pathways that are critical for embryonic development and tissue homeostasis in adults will also provide novel insights into the molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis. (Cancer Res 2006; 66(15): 6463-7) | Introduction |
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(PDGFR
) pathways. Loss of Shh signaling causes widespread defects in embryonic development, including dorsal-ventral patterning defects, randomized left-right axis specification, and reduced limb length and digit number (1), whereas unregulated activation of the pathway is associated with oncogenesis in the skin, brain, lung, pancreas, and prostate (2). Similarly, loss of PDGFR
signaling causes mid-gestation embryonic lethality with defects in many organ systems (3), and unregulated activation of the pathway is associated with numerous tumor types, notably gastrointestinal stromal tumors (4). Because the Shh and PDGFR
signal transduction pathways are altered in numerous cancers, it is intriguing that recent discoveries revealed that the primary cilium is essential for ligand-induced activity of both pathways. Thus, we anticipate that the increasing attention now being paid to cilia structure and function will reveal new insights into the pathogenesis of many types of cancer, and that some cilia proteins may represent new targets for cancer therapeutics. Here, we provide a brief overview of the primary cilium and its role as a mediator of Shh and PDGFR
signaling. | Evolutionary Conservation of the Eukaryotic Primary Cilium |
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0.2 µm in diameter and
5 µm in length) and are usually observed with an electron microscope (Fig. 1A
), or more routinely with an epifluorescence microscope following immunofluorescent labeling with
-tubulin antibodies (6, 7). The primary cilium was once thought to be an evolutionary vestige in vertebrates. However, recent studies revealed that the primary cilium is an essential sensory organelle in many tissues, and genetic mutations that disrupt the function of primary cilia result in a broad spectrum of disorders, including cystic kidneys, hepatic and pancreatic abnormalities, skeletal malformations, obesity, and severe developmental defects (811).
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| The Primary Cilium, Basal Body, Centrosome, and the Cell Cycle |
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| The Mammalian Primary Cilium is a Mechanical and Chemical Sensor |
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In addition to the mechanical sensing ability of primary cilia in the kidney, primary cilia in other tissues are biochemical sensors, as evidenced by the fact that they display receptors specific to the functions of the tissues in which they are located. Examples include the localization of the somatostatin receptor 3 (22) and 5-HT6 serotonin receptor (23) specifically to neuronal cilia in certain parts of the brain. Other examples with direct relevance to cancer biology are the recent and exciting discoveries that multiple components of the Shh and PDGFR
pathways localize to primary cilia, and that cilia are essential for ligand-induced cell signaling by both pathways (Fig. 1C and D).
| The Primary Cilium is Essential for Shh Signal Transduction |
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A number of recent studies in mice have shown that primary cilia play an essential role in Shh signaling. Mice with mutations in either a subunit of the anterograde kinesin-II IFT motor (Kif3a), in two subunits of the retrograde dynein IFT motor (Dync2li1 and Dync2h1), or in three IFT particle genes [Ift88 (formerly Tg737), Ift172, and Ift52] each exhibit essentially the same mid-gestation lethal phenotype, consisting of dorsal-ventral neural tube patterning defects, randomized left-right axis specification, and polydactyly (2632). Nodal and primary cilia in these mice are either completely absent or severely deformed. It was noted that the mutant phenotypes observed in mice lacking IFT function and cilia are consistent with alterations in the Shh signal transduction pathway. Genetic epistasis experiments were then done that placed the IFT proteins downstream of the Ptch1 and Smo receptors and upstream of the targets of the Gli transcription factors (27, 30). Importantly, it was shown that the Smo receptor localizes to primary cilia in response to Shh, and that IFT function and cilia are required for Smo activity (31, 33). Moreover, it was shown that Gli1, Gli2, Gli3, and Sufu, a negative regulator of the pathway that binds the Gli proteins, all reside in the distal tip of the primary cilium (32). IFT proteins and cilia were shown to be required for both the transcriptional activator and repressor functions of the Gli proteins, including the proteolytic processing of full-length Gli3 to the repressor form and the transcriptional activity of Gli2 (2932). Loss of Gli activator and repressor functions is consistent with the phenotypes exhibited by the IFT mutant mice (30). Loss of Gli activators, which play a major role in neural tube patterning, is in line with the loss of ventral neural tube cells in the mutant mice. Loss of Gli3 repressor function, which is more important in digit patterning, is consistent with the formation of extra digits. These data suggest that the primary cilium is a specialized organelle that contains the protein machinery required for the reception and transduction of Shh signaling activity. Primary cilia may be especially well-suited to fulfill this role, both in terms of the fact that they protrude into the extracellular milieu for the reception of secreted ligands, and from the perspective that they are a distinct domain within the cell that may serve as a location to concentrate and assemble the protein complex required for processing and activation of the Gli transcription factors (32).
These findings have significance to the understanding of certain basic mechanisms of cancer because overactivation of the Shh pathway is associated with numerous types of cancer, notably basal cell carcinoma, the most common type of cancer in humans, and medulloblastoma, the most common type of malignant childhood brain tumor. Thus, through a better understanding of the role that cilia play in Shh reception and Gli processing, novel approaches may emerge whereby unregulated overexpression of the Shh signaling pathway could be attenuated as an effective therapy in patients with numerous types of cancer.
The Primary Cilium is Essential for PDGFR![]() Signal Transduction
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homodimers (PDGFR
). The platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) signaling pathway is essential for normal embryogenesis, inflammation, and wound healing, and unregulated activation of the pathway is associated with numerous disorders, including carcinogenesis. The PDGF pathway consists of four ligands (PDGF-A, -B, -C, and -D) and two receptors (PDGFR
and PDGFRß). The ligands form homodimers (and AB heterodimers) and bind to two receptors simultaneously, resulting in the activation of the receptors. The affinities of the receptors for the various PDGF homodimers differ. For example, PDGF-AA only binds to PDGFR
, whereas PDGF-BB binds all three dimeric combinations of the two receptors. Upon ligand binding, receptor dimerization and autophosphorylation on specific tyrosine residues in the cytoplasmic domain of the receptors facilitates the binding of intracellular signaling molecules to these phosphotyrosines and initiates downstream signaling cascades, which include the phosphoinositide-3-kinase/Akt and Raf/MEK/ERK pathways (4, 35).
Schneider et al. (34) explored the connection between cilia and PDGF signaling based on the prior observations that cilia are usually formed on growth-arrested cells, and PDGFR
is preferentially expressed in growth-arrested cells. They showed that PDGFR
localizes to the primary cilia of growth-arrested NIH/3T3 mouse fibroblasts, whereas PDGFRß does not, but instead occurs in clusters along the cell surface. Immunoblots showed that both PDGFR
and PDGFRß were present in interphase cells prior to the development of cilia, but only PDGFR
showed increases in protein levels that correlated with the development and elongation of cilia. PDGF-AA stimulation of cells resulted in the activation of PDGFR
, followed by phosphorylation and activation of the Akt and Mek1/2-Erk1/2 pathways (Fig. 1D). Interestingly, it was shown that phosphorylation of Mek1/2 occurred within the cilium and at the basal body. These authors showed that growth arrest of fibroblasts from Tg737orpk (Ift88Tg737Rpw) mutant mice failed to induce the up-regulation of PDGFR
. In addition, PDGF-AA stimulation of the mutant cells failed to activate PDGFR
and the Mek1/2-Erk1/2 pathway, and reentry of the cells into the cell cycle was impaired. Thus, cilia are essential for PDGF signal reception and pathway activation through PDGFR
. Localization and activation of PDGFR
signaling, but not PDGFRß in the primary cilium, is likely to add yet another layer of specificity to the differential roles of PDGFs and their receptors in a myriad of cellular functions.
Like the Shh pathway, PDGFR
signaling influences multiple cellular responses including chemotaxis, proliferation, and apoptosis, and has directly been linked with tumor formation in humans, especially in gliomas and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (4, 35). Thus, the discovery that primary cilia have an essential role in regulating PDGFR
signaling may provide novel insights into the pathogenesis of these tumors.
| The Primary Cilium as a New Target for Cancer Therapeutics? |
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| Acknowledgments |
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We thank Dr. Courtney J. Haycraft for constructive comments on the manuscript.
| Footnotes |
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Received 2/ 6/06. Revised 3/18/06. Accepted 3/23/06.
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receptor is required for neural crest cell development and for normal patterning of the somites. Development 1997;124:2691700.[Abstract]
signaling is regulated through the primary cilium in fibroblasts. Curr Biol 2005;15:18616.[CrossRef][Medline]This article has been cited by other articles:
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