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Department of Biological Sciences, Hunter College of The City University of New York, New York, New York
Requests for reprints: David A. Foster, Department of Biological Sciences, Hunter College of The City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10021. Phone: 212-772-4075; E-mail: foster{at}genectr.hunter.cuny.edu.
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| Introduction |
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| mTOR Regulation by PA |
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A role for PLD-generated PA in the activation of mTOR. The major cellular mechanism for generating PA is through the hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine by PLD. There are two mammalian PLD isoforms (PLD1 and PLD2) that can be distinguished by different mechanisms of regulation and subcellular distribution (4). PLD1 has a perinuclear localization and is regulated by Rho, Ral, and ARF family GTPases (4). PLD2 is largely restricted to lipid raft fractions on the plasma membrane, and its mode of regulation is not well understood (4). Both PLD1 and PLD2 have a stringent requirement for PIP2 (4). The production of PA by either PLD1 or PLD2 can be suppressed by primary, but not tertiary, alcohols in what is known as the transphosphatidylation reaction whereby an inert phosphatidyl-alcohol is generated rather than PA. This reaction has been widely used to indicate a requirement for PLD, and several studies have indicated that the activation of mTOR was sensitive to primary alcohols. Serum-induced increases in S6 kinase activity and 4E-BP1 phosphorylation were blocked by 1-butanol in HEK293 cells (3). Phenylephrine (
-adrenergic receptor agonist)induced mTOR was also sensitive to treatment with 1-butanol (12). In skeletal muscle, PA stimulated S6 kinase phosphorylation, and 1-butanol suppressed S6 kinase phosphorylation (13). A very recent report showed a nutrient-dependent multimerization of mTOR that was also suppressed by 1-butanol (14). Thus, suppression of PLD-generated PA with primary alcohols has been reported to suppress the effects of mTOR in several systems, cell types, and cellular phenotypes.
In addition to experiments that used primary alcohols to suppress PLD-induced increases in PA, several studies have investigated the dependence mTOR activation on PLD1 and PLD2 expression. Exogenously expressed PLD2 was shown to increase S6 kinase phosphorylation in MCF7 cells (15), and elevated expression of PLD1 was reported to increase S6 kinase phosphorylation in rat fibroblasts (16). Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA)induced mTOR was shown to be dependent on PLD1 and Rho (17). The activation of mTOR by Cdc42 was also dependent on PLD1 (18). Suppression of PLD1 expression blocked S6 kinase phosphorylation in B16 melanoma cells, and suppression of either PLD1 or mTOR led to melanogenesis in these cells (19). Both PLD1 and PLD2 were able to suppress protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) in a rapamycin-dependent manner (20). PLD2 also suppressed the association between PP2A and the mTOR substrates S6 kinase and 4E-BP1 (20). Very recently, it was reported that PLD2 forms a functional complex with mTOR and its binding partner Raptor (known as mTORC1) through a TOS (TOR signaling) motif in PLD2 (21). The interaction between mTORC1 and PLD2 was essential for mitogen stimulation of mTOR (21). Thus, in addition to the ability of PA to activate mTOR, there are several studies that have shown a PLD requirement for the activation of mTOR. Although it is not clear how both PLD1 and PLD2 contribute to the activation of mTOR, it has been proposed that elevated PLD1 leads to the activation of PLD2 by increasing levels of PIP2 required for the activity of PLD2 (5). This could explain the apparent involvement of both PLD1 and PLD2 in the activation of mTORC1.
Other mechanisms for elevating PA. In addition to PLD, it has been suggested that PA generated by other metabolic pathways could contribute to the activation of mTOR. It has also been reported that suppression of LPA acyltransferase (LPAAT), which generates PA by acylating LPA, suppressed mTOR activation (22). The suppression of LPAAT activity disrupted survival and proliferative signals in several cancer cell lines (22). Similarly, it was reported that mTOR is activated in response to diacylglycerol kinase (23), which generates PA by phosphorylating diacylglycerol. These studies further establish that elevated PA levels in cells leads to the activation of mTOR and suggest the possibility that there are alternative mechanisms for generating the PA required for activating mTOR. There have been concerns that studies with exogenously provided PA activates mTOR artifactually because it is difficult for PA to get across the membrane to appropriate sites where mTOR could be activated. Although evidence that firmly establishes a role for LPAAT and diacylglycerol kinase in the physiologic activation of mTOR is still missing, the ability of elevated LPAAT and diacylglycerol kinase activity to stimulate mTOR provides evidence that PA generated physiologically inside of cells can lead to the activation of mTOR. Additionally, because PA can be metabolically converted to either LPA or diacylglycerol (4), these studies also indicate that it is PA, and not metabolites of PA, that is acting on mTOR.
Dependence of PLD-induced mTOR activation on PI3K activity? Elevated PLD activity, under most circumstances, does not lead to increased phosphorylation of Akt. Increased expression of PLD1 led to increased S6 kinase phosphorylation but did not increase Akt phosphorylation in rat fibroblasts (16). However, PLD1-induced increases in S6 kinase phosphorylation were blocked by the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 (16). Similarly, LY294002 suppressed S6 kinase phosphorylation in MDA-MB-231 cells, where there is elevated expression of PLD1 and elevated PLD activity (15). However, Tee et al. (9) were able to activate mTOR with exogenously supplied PA in the presence of the PI3K inhibitor wortmannin. These data indicate that whereas PLD and PA can stimulate mTOR, basal levels of PI3K activity and the suppression of TSC1/2 may be required.
Are the effects of rapamycin on mTOR due to competition with PA? Rapamycin interacts with FKBP12, which then interacts mTOR in a region known as the FKBP12-rapamycin-binding (FRB) domain. Chen et al. proposed a model for the mechanism of rapamycin suppression of mTOR based their observation that the FRB domain of mTOR bound PA in a manner that was competitive with rapamycin/FKBP12 (3, 6). It was found that the FRB domain of mTOR bound to phosphatidylcholine-based vesicles containing as little as 10% PA but not to vesicles containing other phospholipids, including phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylethanolamine, PI, PIP, PIP2, and PIP3 (3). The binding of the FRB domain to PA was blocked by FKBP12/rapamycin, indicating a competition between PA and FKBP12/rapamycin for the FRB domain of mTOR. Moreover, an FRB domain from a rapamycin-resistant mTOR mutant bound PA in a rapamycin-resistant manner (3). Mutation of Arg2109 seemed to be critical for the interaction between the FRB and PA (3). Moreover, expression of this mutant in HEK293 cells suppressed serum-induced S6 kinase phosphorylation (3). Based on these data, it was proposed that the basis for rapamycin action is due to preventing interaction with PA (6). Consistent with this hypothesis, elevated PLD activity in MDA-MB-231 and MCF7 human breast cancer cells increased the IC50 for rapamycin. The IC50 for the suppression of cell proliferation by rapamycin in MDA-MB-231 cells, which have high levels of PLD activity, was 10 µmol/L, whereas in MCF7 cells, which have low levels of PLD activity, it was 20 nmol/L (7). Interestingly, the IC50 for S6 kinase phosphorylation in MDA-MB-231 cells was 20 nmol/L and 1 nmol/L in MCF7 cells (7). Thus, although lower concentrations of rapamycin were required to suppress S6 kinase phosphorylation than was required to suppress proliferation, higher level of PLD still increased the IC50 for the effect of rapamycin. Elevated expression of PLD2 increased IC50 for rapamycin in MCF7 cells, and expression of a dominant-negative PLD2 decreased the IC50 for rapamycin in MDA-MB-231 cells (7). In skeletal muscle, mechanical stimulation led to elevated PLD activity and also increased the IC50 for rapamycin (13). These data are all consistent with the model proposed by Chen and Fang (6), whereby the effects of rapamycin are due to interfering with an interaction between the FRB of mTOR and PLD generated PA (shown schematically in Fig. 1B). It has been suggested that the mechanism of rapamycin action is simply to alter the structure of mTOR (1), and whereas this is certainly also possible, the data indicating a competition between PA and rapamycin/FKBP12 for mTOR represents a compelling alternative that is supported by both in vitro and in vivo studies. It is also possible that rapamycin/FKBP12 changes the conformation of mTOR and suppresses interaction with PA. Another possibility is that the PA generated by PLD could reduce the pH locally such that mTOR gets protonated in such a way the mTOR kinase activity is increased or the association with substrates is altered.
| Summary, Significance, and Directions |
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Collectively, the data linking PLD-generated PA production with mTOR activation represent a novel and potentially important mechanism for activating this critical regulator of responses to environmental stress and survival signals in cancer. The significant percentage of cancers with elevated PLD activity strongly suggest that this pathway for activating mTOR be carefully considered especially because targeting mTOR with rapamycin in cancer would be strongly influenced by the level of PLD activity in the cancer cells. Elevated PLD activity confers resistance to rapamycin (7, 13), which could have important unintended clinical consequences in that rapamycin treatment could actually select for cancer cells with elevated PLD activity. The elevated PLD activity would not only generate rapamycin resistance, it could also make cells more malignant because elevated PLD activity also stimulates the metastatic phenotypes of increased cell migration and invasion (24). Thus, the potential for PLD to affect the targeting mTOR in multiple ways in anticancer therapies argues strongly that serious attention be given to the role of PLD and PA in the regulation of mTOR, especially with regard to targeting mTOR in anticancer therapies.
Future studies to establish a role of PLD for in the regulation mTOR will include studies on the subcellular distribution of PLD isoforms and mTOR and on the molecular mechanism through which PA affects mTOR. It will be critical to evaluate the subcellular localization of the participants in the regulation of mTOR. PLD2, which has recently been shown to associate with mTOR-Raptor complex (21), localizes primarily with lipid raft fractions on the plasma membrane, whereas PLD1 localizes primarily to perinuclear membranes (4, 5). We have found that in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells, mTOR has a perinuclear distribution similar to that of PLD1.1 However, PLD1 has also been found on the plasma membrane, and PLD2 has been found in the nucleus (5, 6). Thus, clearly there is a need to evaluate the subcellular distribution of PLD isoforms, mTOR, and other regulators of mTOR in various cell lines where mTOR is active. Further studies are also needed to establish the precise mechanism of PA action on mTOR to determine exactly how PA affects mTOR signaling. It will also be of interest to establish whether PA has any effect on the rapamycin-resistant mTORC2 complex of mTOR and Rictor (25). Recent work from Sabatini et al. has shown that the formation of a complex between Raptor and mTOR (known as mTORC1) is disrupted by rapamycin (26). If rapamycin is acting to suppress interaction between mTOR and PA as proposed (6), then the role of PA may be to facilitate the interaction between mTOR and Raptor. Raptor has been implicated in regulating substrate specificity of mTOR (1). If PA does affect the mTOR-Raptor interaction, then PA could affect substrate recognition and not the kinase activity of mTOR. This would be consistent with unpublished data from Chen et al. (3, 6) indicating that PA does not affect the kinase activity of mTOR in vitro. More mechanistic details on the interaction of PA with mTOR could provide insights into the generation of rapamycin derivatives that are not as sensitive to PA levels. This will be especially important for the development of strategies for targeting the large percentage of human cancers where mTOR is providing survival signals, especially those being fueled by PLD-generated PA.
| Acknowledgments |
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I thank John Blenis and David Sabatini for challenging discussions and constructive comments on the article and Greg Hoffman for critical comments on the article.
| Footnotes |
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Received 8/14/06. Revised 9/24/06. Accepted 10/26/06.
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