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The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Vol. 84, No. 5 1716-1721
Copyright © 1999 by The Endocrine Society


Original Studies

Mutational Analysis of Activin/Transforming Growth Factor-ß Type I and Type II Receptor Kinases in Human Pituitary Tumors1

F. Homero D’Abronzo, Brooke Swearingen, Anne Klibanski and Joseph M. Alexander2

Neuroendocrine Unit, Departments of Medicine and Neurosurgery (B.S.), Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Anne Klibanski, M.D., Neuroendocrine Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, BUL457B, Boston, Massachusetts 02114-2696.


    Abstract
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Genetic mutation or loss of activin/transforming growth factor-ß (TGFß) receptor function has been shown in human lymphoid, breast, and colorectal tumors as well as Hep2B and Mv1Lu cell lines. Although activin stimulates FSHß biosynthesis and secretion, a large percentage of human gonadotroph tumors have previously been demonstrated to be nonresponsive to characterized activin effects. This phenotype may be indicative of loss of functional cell surface receptors and/or intracellular signaling mediators of activin responses. Several studies examining the structure/function of type I and II receptors specific for ligands in the TGFß superfamily have delineated the critical regions for receptor intracellular kinase function. In the case of TGFß, inactivating mutations in these regions have been shown to render these receptors kinase deficient by a dominant negative phenotype and result in resistance to growth arrest. We therefore hypothesized that activin/TGFß cell surface receptors may act as tumor suppressors in human pituitary tumors, and that inactivating genetic mutations in the intracellular kinase region of this gene family may release pituicytes from normal growth suppression by activin through a similar mechanism. We used single stranded conformational polymorphism analysis to examine 2 intracellular regions required for type I receptor signaling by human Alk1–5 type I receptors as well as the entire coding region of 2 activin type II receptors and the TGFß type II receptor in 64 human pituitary tumors. A novel polymorphism was found in 45% of tumors at codon P117 of the ActRIIA gene and was used as a positive control for single stranded conformational polymorphism. One patient with a gonadotroph tumor had a confirmed A482V germline mutation in the Alk1 gene within kinase subdomains X–XI. No other mutations were detected in any tumor studied. These data suggest that somatic mutations within these intracellular kinase regions of type I/type II receptors are rare in human pituitary tumors.


    Introduction
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
MEMBERS of the transforming growth factor-ß (TGFß) family of growth factors, which include activin, inhibin, bone morphogenetic proteins, and Mullerian inhibiting substance, function as both growth and differentiation factors in a variety of cell types (1). Activins are sulfhydryl-linked dimers comprising two distinct protein subunits (ßA and ßB) encoded by separate genes (2). The three isoforms of activin are homo/heterodimers of the ß-subunits. In the pituitary, locally secreted activin is a potent differentiation factor in addition to regulating biosynthesis and secretion of FSH (3). Human pituitary tumors have also been shown to synthesize endogenous activin subunit messenger ribonucleic acids (mRNAs), as well as a wide array of activin/TGFß receptor isoforms (4, 5, 6). Activin signaling occurs via binding to a heteromeric receptor complex with transmembrane serine/threonine kinase activity and modulates the expression and activity of several nuclear factors important in gene regulation and cell cycling, such as the immediate early gene jun and the tumor suppressor protein retinoblastoma (Rb) (7). The growth inhibitory effects of activin have been shown in a number of nonpituitary cell types, including human K562 erythroleukemia cells, and human fetal adrenal cells (8, 9).

Numerous studies describing the cloning of the activin family of cell surface type I and type II receptors have revealed a novel class of receptor complexes with transmembrane serine/threonine (Ser/Thr) kinase activity and varying affinities for activin and/or TGFß (7). A defined series of noncovalent molecular interactions between type I and type II receptors give rise to active signaling receptor complexes (10). Human type I receptors, Alk1–5 (activin-like receptor kinases), primarily function as intracellular signal transducers, whereas binding specificity for TGFß or activin resides in the type II receptors, TßRII (TGFß) or ActRIIA and ActRIIB (activin) (10). Therefore, receptor complexes comprised of both receptor classes are required for functional activin or TGFß signaling. For both activin and TGFß signaling, type I receptor is activated by ligand-bound type II receptor cross-phosphorylation at intracellular serine and threonine residues. This activated complex then stimulates specific intracellular signaling cascades via type I receptor-specific Ser/Thr kinase activity.(10) Although receptors for TGFß-related cytokines such as activin have been identified in human neoplastic pituitary tissue, their potential role as signal transducers in tumor pathogenesis remains unknown. To investigate whether activin/TGFß cell surface receptors may act as tumor suppressors in human pituitary tumors, we used single stranded conformational polymorphism (SSCP) analysis targeting the intracellular kinase domain regions of the human Alk1–5 type I receptors to scan for inactivating somatic mutations in human pituitary adenomas. SSCP analysis of the entire coding region of two activin and a single TGFß type II receptors was also performed in 64 human pituitary adenoma specimens to investigate whether these neoplasms harbor mutations in these receptors.


    Materials and Methods
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Patient data and pituitary adenoma characterization

Histologically confirmed pituitary tumors were obtained from 64 patients who underwent transsphenoidal surgery and were investigated for activin/TGFß receptor mutations. Patients (n = 8) with GH-secreting macroadenomas (diameter, >=1 cm) ranged in age from 26–78 yr (median, 36 yr), and all had clinical and biochemical evidence of acromegaly, with elevated serum levels of GH and IGF-I. Somatotroph adenomas underwent immunohistochemical staining for GH, PRL, and {alpha}-subunit. All somatotroph tumors exhibited strong immunohistochemical staining for GH, and tumors 4, 6, and 7 also showed extensive PRL staining. Somatotroph adenoma 2 exhibited extensive immunohistochemical staining for free glycoprotein hormone {alpha}-subunit. Patients with macroprolactinomas (n = 9) ranged in age from 17–60 yr (median, 35 yr), and all had elevated serum PRL levels and immunohistochemical staining consistent with the diagnosis. Patients with corticotroph tumors (n = 8; four microadenomas and four macroadenomas) ranged in age from 20–54 yr (median, 46 yr). All had dexamethasone suppression testing and petrosal catheterization results consistent with Cushing’s disease. All corticotroph adenoma tissue samples exhibited positive immunohistochemical staining for ACTH, whereas only corticotroph tumor 3 exhibited scattered staining for PRL. All GH-, PRL-, and ACTH-secreting tumors were negative for LHß mRNA expression in RT-PCR assays, whereas all control normal pituitaries were positive for LHß mRNA. These data indicate that these surgical specimens were not contaminated with significant numbers of normal pituitary cells (data not shown). Serum gonadotropins and free {alpha}-subunit levels were within the normal range for all 39 patients with clinically nonfunctioning pituitary tumors, a tumor type that consists largely of neoplastic gonadotroph cells. None of the patients had clinical evidence of GH or ACTH hypersecretion, and serum PRL was less than 100 µg/L. Patients ranged in age from 31–79 yr (median, 56 yr). Immunocytochemical staining was performed on pituitary tumor tissue from each patient using specific antibodies for LHß, TSHß, FSHß, {alpha}-subunit, GH, PRL, and ACTH. Immunostaining for one or more glycoprotein hormone subunits was positive in five of the nonfunctioning tumors. All nonfunctioning adenomas were negative for Pit-1 mRNA expression in RT-PCR assays, whereas the control normal pituitary complementary DNA (cDNA) library was positive for Pit-1 mRNA. These data indicate that these surgical specimens were not contaminated with significant numbers of normal pituitary cells and were highly likely to be of gonadotropic origin (data not shown). The control normal pituitary tissues used in these studies were obtained 3–6 h postmortem and snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen (National Disease Research Interchange, Philadelphia, PA).

Pituitary adenomas were obtained in phosphate-buffered saline after transsphenoidal surgery and were frozen in liquid nitrogen. Normal human pituitary samples were obtained at autopsy. Total RNA from adenomatous and normal tissue was obtained using the guanidinium isothiocyanate/phenol/chloroform extraction technique, followed by enzymatic digestion of genomic DNA with 1 U RQ1 deoxyribonuclease/µg total nucleic acid at 37 C for 1 h (Promega Corp., Madison, WI). Total RNA was then reextracted with phenol/chloroform, ethanol precipitated, and quantitated by UV spectrophotometry. The normal human pituitary cDNA library (CLONTECH Laboratories, Inc., San Diego, CA) represents pooled mRNA from nine men and women, aged 15–83 yr, from tissue obtained 1–3 h postmortem.

RT-PCR of activin/TGFß receptors

For RNA samples, 1 µg total RNA was reverse transcribed in 50 mmol/L Tris-HCl (pH 8.3), 5 mmol/L KCl, 5 mmol/L MgCl2, 5 mmol/L dithiothreitol, 0.25 mmol/L spermidine, 200 mmol/L deoxy (d)-NTPs using avian myeloblastosis virus (AMV) reverse transcriptase (12 U/reaction), and random hexamers (1 µg/reaction) as first strand cDNA primers (Promega Corp.). RT reactions were carried out at 25 C for 10 min (random hexamer annealing), followed by a 10-min elongation step at 42 C, and AMV reverse transcriptase heat inactivation at 99 C for 5 min.

PCR oligonucleotide primers for activin receptors were tested for their ability to amplify 100 ng human leukocyte genomic DNA to rule out contaminating DNA as a source of signal in RT-PCR reactions. With the exception of ALK3, all primer pairs failed to amplify genomic DNA, indicating that they spanned at least one intron and were not effective in amplifying potential pseudogenes. Control reactions without AMV reverse transcriptase were also carried out with each RNA sample to exclude genomic DNA contamination as a source of amplified signal. All tumors and normal tissues were negative for receptor signal in reactions without RT (data not shown). All PCR oligonucleotide primers were compared to GenBank sequence libraries to assure specificity. The primers used for PCR/SSCP analysis are listed along with the 5'-position of each nucleotide based on the National Center for Biotechnology Information accession number of each cloned receptor. + and - indicate sense and antisense strands, respectively. The following primers were used: ActRII (11) (M93415): 1a [+/nucleotide (nt) 173], aat ggg agc tgc tgc aaa gtt; 1b (-/nt 461), atc ttt ttt ttc tgt cgg gac; 2a (+/nt 407), ttg gct gga tga tat caa ctg; 2b (-/nt 630), tcc ccg caa tta aca taa gtg; 3a (+/nt 570), aag cca ccc tat tac aac atc; 3b (-/nt 775), ccc ctt gct ttc act tct aat; 4a (+/nt 715), ccc cac ctt ctc cat tac tag; 4b (-/nt 929), tgc acc aat gaa ctg taa tat; 5a (+/nt 858), tgg caa aat gaa tac gaa gtc ta; 5b (-/nt 1064), agc cat ggt ttc tgc aat atg ac; 6a (+/nt 1009), tta agg cta atg tgg tct ctt g; 6b (-/nt 1243), tgg gta tcg cct gca gac tt; 7a (+/nt 1196), tgg gtt ggc ctt aaa att tga; 7b (-/nt 1469), aac aac ttc ctg cat gtc ttc; 8a (+/nt 1427), aat tgg cca gca tcc atc tct; 8b (-/nt 1704), att ctt tgg gag gaa agt caa; ActRIIB (12) (X77533): 1a (+/nt 227), aag ggc tgc tgg cta gat gac; 1b (-/nt 444), ccg atg ggc agc agt gag tag; 2a (+/nt 330), gca acg agc gct tca ctc att; 2b (-/nt 536), gcc cag ggt cct cat gga tgt; 3a (+/nt 465), tgc tgg cct ttt gga tgt acc; 3b (-/nt 680), tct gcc acg act gct tgt c; 4a (+/nt 621), agg ccc agc tca tga atg act; 4b (-/nt 877), agg cct cgt gac atc gtc tct; 5a (+/nt 852), cat gga acg aac tgt gtc atg ta; 5b (-/nt 1121), ctc cct cga gca cct cag gag; 6a (+/nt 1178), ggt agg cac gag acg gta ca; 6b (-/nt 1321), ggt ggg cct cat ctt ctt gt; 7a (+/nt 1237), gct gcc ctt tga gga aga gat; 7b (-/nt 1477), gtc cga ggt agt gcc gtt gac; TBRII (13) (M85079): 1a (+/nt 356), ggg cct gtg gcc gct gca cat; 1b (-/nt 701), ggc ttt ttt ttt tcc ttc ata; 2a (+/nt 652), tcc cct acc atg act tta ttc; 2b (-/nt 927), gcc ggt ttc cca ggt tga act; 3a (+/nt 902), ccg cgt taa ccg gca gca gaa; 3b (-/nt 1182), tgt ctt cca aga ggc ata ctc; 4a (+/nt 1167), atc ttt ccc tat gag gag tat; 4b (-/nt 1428), ggg cct ccc aca tgg agt gtg; 5a (+/nt 1404), ggg att gct cac ctc cac agt; 5b (-/nt 1715), act tct ccc act gca tta cag; 6a (+/nt 1692), gtg ctc tgg gaa atg aca tct; 6b (-/nt 2041), tgc cca gcc tgc ccc ata aga; Alk1 (14) (Z22533): 1a (+/nt 173), ggg gac ctc ctg gac agt gac; 1b (-/nt 461), ccc gga acc agg act gtt cat; 2a (+/nt 173), tct cag gcc tag ctc aga tga; 2b (-/nt 461) cag ccc cct gca ggc aga aag; Alk2-(14) (Z22534): 1a (+/nt 173), gac gtg gag tat ggc act atc; 1b (-/nt 461), gtt tcc ctg aac cat gac ttc; 2a (+/nt 173), tac cca aca gat ggt tct cag; 2b (-/nt 461), aat ttg tcg agg gaa tta tca; Alk3-(14) (Z22535): 1a (+/nt 173), aac agg atg aag cat tta ttc; 1b (-/nt 461), tgg ctt ctt cag tgg taa aga; 2a (+/nt 173), tcg gtg gaa cag tga tga atg; 2b (-/nt 461), cat gcc atg ggt aaa aac agt; Alk4-(14) (Z22536): 1a (+/nt 173), acg ctc cag gat ctt gtc tac; 1b (-/nt 461), gca tga ccg tct ggt ata tct; 2a (+/nt 173), ctg cca tat tac gac tta gtg; 2b (-/nt 461), gag gga gca gtt aga tct tca; Alk5 (15) (L11695): 1a (+/nt 173), gat cgc cct ttt att tca gag; 1b (-/nt 461), cac gaa cgt tct tct cta gag; 2a (+/nt 173), ggc caa ata tcc caa aca gat; 2b (-/nt 461), gag ttc agg caa agc tgt aga.

All PCR amplifications used 50 ng first strand cDNA from a single RT reaction. To control for potential nonspecific RNA degradation in pituitary tumor and normal pituitary RNA preparations, samples were tested for the presence of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase mRNA by PCR, and all were positive. For each receptor studied, all pituitary tumors and normal pituitary samples then were amplified simultaneously for each receptor using a common PCR reaction mixture to ensure that any differences in receptor amplification between samples were not due to variability in PCR reaction conditions. PCR was carried out in 50 mmol/L KCl, 10 mmol/L Tris-HCl (pH 9.0), 3.5 mmol/L MgCl2, 0.1% Triton X-100, 40 mmol/L dNTPs, and 0.125 U TaqI polymerase (Promega Corp.) in a final volume of 25 µL. To control for extraneous contaminating genomic DNA or cDNA in experimental reagents, a tube containing the PCR reaction mixture with no template was included in each receptor amplification experiment and was negative for all experiments. PCR products were visualized by incorporation of [{alpha}-32P]dCTP (100 nCi/reaction) in the PCR reactions. PCR primers (12.5 pmol) were used for each reaction, and amplifications were carried out in a thermocycler (MJ Research, Inc., Watertown, MA). All reactions were amplified for 30 cycles (1 min at 94 C, 1 min at optimized annealing temperature, and 1 min, 15 sec at 72 C). Optimal annealing temperatures and thermal stabilities for each primer set were calculated using Oligo software (National Biosciences, Minneapolis, MN).

SSCP and sequence analysis

Receptor-specific primers were end labeled with [{gamma}-32P]ATP followed by PCR amplification of tumor first strand cDNA at the appropriate annealing temperature. After PCR amplification, products were fractionated on 6% acrylamide, 0.16% bisacrylamide (Protogel, National Diagnostics, Atlanta, GA) with 8% glycerol under nondenaturing conditions at 15 watts. Samples that displayed mobility shifts were ligated into pGEM-T plasmid vectors (Promega Corp.), and dideoxy sequencing of both sense and antisense strands using more than six transformants was performed with Sequenase (U.S. Biochemical Corp., Cleveland, OH). Base changes were confirmed when at least two plasmids had the same point mutation and were analyzed a second time by RT-PCR/SSCP from native tumor RNA. Candidate mutations were also analyzed from patient leukocyte DNA to evaluate the tumor specificity of candidate point mutations detected in tumor samples.


    Results
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
SSCP analysis of type I receptor kinases

Figure 1Go displays the targeted SSCP analysis used for mutational scans of type I receptors in human pituitary adenomas. The gray areas indicate the region of each receptor amplified by RT-PCR and analyzed by SSCP gel electrophoresis. The GS domain of Alk1 through Alk5 was investigated for potential point mutations; however, all tumor specimens were negative for somatic gene alterations in this region. Kinase subdomains X–XI were also examined by RT-PCR/SSCP. One germline point mutation was found in the Alk1 gene at residue 482. An in-frame C to T transversion at the second codon position of residue 482 alters the translation of the Alk1 receptor, changing an alanine to a valine. This A482V mutation is shown in Fig. 2Go. In addition, it creates a novel HhaI site, which was also used as an independent marker to screen tumor and leukocyte DNA samples for the presence of the described mutation (data not shown). Both the patient’s pituitary adenoma specimen as well as control leukocyte DNA were heterozygous for the observed A482V mutation. This finding was independently confirmed by a second full RT-PCR/SSCP study to discount the potential for PCR error during amplification.



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Figure 1. Schematic of RT-PCR/SSCP analysis of type I receptors. Peptide sequence of the conserved GS domain and kinase subdomains X–XI are shown, with analyzed regions shown in gray. The black overbars indicate the core conserved sequence of each region, and the arrow indicates the site of the characterized Alk1 A482V germline mutation. An overall schematic of the type I receptor family structure is shown on the right.

 


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Figure 2. An A482V point mutation in the Alk1 receptor of a single gonadotroph tumor. Normal sequence (sense strand) from the heterozygous patient’s control leukocyte DNA is shown on the left along with the A482V germline point mutation in both leukocyte and gonadotroph tumor specimens from that patient. The patient had no unusual clinical of biochemical parameters and presented with symptoms of mass effect due to a clinically nonfunctioning macroadenoma that immunostained for {alpha}-subunit only. Preoperative serum markers were all in the normal range.

 
SSCP analysis of type II receptors

Full-length RT-PCR/SSCP was performed on ActRIIA, ActRIIB, and TßRII to investigate potential somatic mutations in these type II receptors in human pituitary tumors. Both ActRIIB and TßRII were negative for any mutations in all pituitary tumors studied. However, a prevalent silent polymorphism at P117 of ActRIIA was detected in 45% of pituitary tumor and control leukocyte DNA studied (Fig. 3Go). A nucleotide G to A change in the third "wobble" codon position of proline residue 117 results in a conservative base change that fails to alter the ActRIIA protein. The detected nucleotide substitution eliminates a MspI restriction enzyme site that was used to screen for the polymorphism in a large number of patient specimens. MspI restriction analysis of representative tumors studied by SSCP analysis is shown in Fig. 3CGo. No other somatic mutation or polymorphism was detected in any other region of any of the type II receptors studied by RT-PCR/SSCP.



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Figure 3. Deletion of a silent polymorphism in P117 of the human ActRIIA receptor. A, Schematic shows the RT-PCR/SSCP strategy for the entire ActRIIA-coding region along with the position of the P117 polymorphism in the extracellular domain of the ActRIIA receptor. B, RT-PCR/SSCP and sequencing analysis of nine representative nonfunctioning tumors is shown. The center SSCP gel shows differential migration of the normal and polymorphic ActRIIA alleles, whereas sequencing gels on the right and left display the characterized G to A base substitution. C, MspI digestion of PCR products. The G to A polymorphism eliminates an MspI site. Wild-type ActRIIA DNA is cleaved by MspI digestion to yield a 119-bp/106-bp doublet that resolves as one band on agarose gels. DNA encoding the polymorphism is resistant to cleavage by MspI and migrates as the full-length 224-bp PCR product.

 

    Discussion
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Model systems have offered insight into activin effects on cellular growth and phenotype in normal pituitary. Activin inhibits basal and GHRH-stimulated GH secretion and intracellular cAMP levels and has an antimitogenic action on rat somatotroph cells (16). Activin A also inhibits POMC mRNA biosynthesis, ACTH secretion, and cell proliferation in AtT20 cells, an established mouse corticotroph cell line (17). In normal pituitary gonadotrophs, activin increases the number of FSH-producing cells, although its effects on gonadotroph proliferative rates are unknown. In contrast to the uniform growth arrest and hormone regulation effects by activin observed in animal model systems, a subset of human pituitary tumors does not respond to exogenous activin (18). Alterations in cell surface receptor gene expression by pituitary adenomas may be an underlying cellular mechanism modulating cell proliferation in responsive vs. nonresponsive human pituitary tumors (19, 20, 21). For example, disruption of tumor-specific expression of activin receptor subtypes may facilitate resistance to the antiproliferative effects of activin. The loss of activin responsiveness by a large percentage of human gonadotroph tumors may be indicative of the loss of functional activin cell surface receptors, as has been shown for TGF in human lymphoid (22), breast, and colorectal tumors (23) as well as Hep2B and Mv1Lu cell lines (24). Whether this nonresponsive phenotype is due to mutations in coding sequences of activin receptor genes was therefore investigated in this study.

Our SSCP analysis of the activin/TGFß receptor superfamily demonstrates that mutations in signaling domains of those molecules are rare in human pituitary adenomas. Our mutational survey revealed a novel silent polymorphism (i.e. a base substitution that, due to the redundancy of the genetic code, fails to result in an amino acid change during protein translation) that was detected in 45% of tumors at codon P117 of the ActRIIA gene. Although the P117 polymorphism does not result in an altered ActRIIA protein, this prevalent base change was used as a positive control for SSCP and served to validate the sensitivity of our mutational screen. One patient with a gonadotroph tumor had a confirmed A482V germline mutation in the Alk1 gene within kinase subdomains X–XI. This did not represent a pituitary tumor-specific somatic mutation, and therefore, the pathogenetic implications of this mutation are unclear. No other mutations were detected in any tumor studied. These data suggest that somatic mutations within these intracellular kinase regions of type I/type II receptors are rare in human pituitary tumors.

No mutations were detected in the human type I activin receptor Alk4 (ActRIB), the key receptor that modulates activin signaling (25). Functional complementation studies in mink lung epithelial (Mv1Lu) cell lines that lack type I or type II receptor expression have demonstrated that specific heteromeric complexes mediate intracellular signaling in response to activin and TGFß. The type I activin receptor Alk4 is unique in its ability to up-regulate an activin-responsive reporter gene construct (3TPlux) when c-expressed with ActRII in Mv1Lu cells treated with activin (26, 27). In this system, coexpression of TßRII and Alk4 did not confer responsiveness when cells were treated with TGFß, confirming that this type I receptor is activin specific. Similarly, the TGFß specificity of Alk5 has been demonstrated, whereas Alk3 and Alk6 have been shown to be bone morphogenetic protein-2/4-specific type I receptors (28, 29), Alk1 does not confer signaling to any known TGFß-related ligand; however, it has been implicated in hereditary hemorrhagic telangectasia type 2 (30).

We targeted our SSCP mutational screen to specific regions of the intracellular kinase domain of the type I receptor family based on detailed functional studies that have delineated critical domains for type II receptor interactions as well as activation of downstream signaling pathways. A highly conserved glycine/serine-rich juxtamembrane region, termed the GS domain, was found to be critical for downstream activation of the 3TPlux reporter in Mv1Lu cells (25). Site-specific mutagenesis studies have demonstrated that alterations in the GS domain and adjacent residues can render Alk4 either signaling deficient or constitutively active depending on the exact location and nature of the amino acid substitution. For example, substitutions of nonpolar alanine residues for critical serines in the GS domain render Alk4 signaling deficient, whereas glutamic acid substitutions in the same region exhibit wild-type activity with respect to both basal and activin-stimulated levels of reporter 3TPlux activity (25). Similar mutational analysis of threonine residues immediately carboxyl to the GS domain showed that although alanine substitutions failed to support activin-induced luciferase activity, threonine to glutamic acid at residue 206 yielded a constitutively active Alk4. Together, these data strongly support the hypothesis that the GS domain, although lacking inherent kinase activity, is important for downstream signaling by type I receptors.

In addition to the juxtamembrane GS domain of type I receptors, the intracellular kinase region is critical for proper activin signaling. Phylogenetic mapping of conserved Ser/Thr kinase catalytic domains predicts that the cytoplasmic domain of Alk4 consists of 11 kinase subdomains that are critical for modulating receptor function and intracellular signaling (31, 32). The carboxyl kinase catalytic domain, the region with maximum conservation, resides within subdomains VI–XI. A missense mutation of Pro525 to Leu in human TßRII type II receptor disrupts transphosphorylation of TßR-I and subsequent downstream signaling by type I receptor. In addition, a truncated form of type II receptor lacking kinase subdomains X and XI has been shown to abolish either TGFß- or activin-induced signaling in transfected cell lines (32). Interestingly, kinase subdomain XI is highly variable among Ser/Thr kinase receptor subtypes and, given its demonstrated functional role in transphosphorylation by type II receptors, may play a critical role in kinase substrate specificity (31). Because subdomains VIII–XI are critical for Ser/Thr kinase activity as well as intracellular substrate specificity, they are hypothesized to play a critical role in type I receptor signaling in response to activin.

The finding of a germline mutation within the Alk1-coding region in a patient with a gonadotroph tumor, specifically within the highly conserved kinase X and XI subdomains, was confirmed by both SSCP and sequencing of tumor and control leukocyte DNA. Alk1 mutations have been implicated in hereditary hemorrhagic telangectasia type 2, or Osler-Rendu-Weber syndrome, an autosomal dominant vascular dysplasia (30). A review of clinical data and family history from this patient failed to indicate any clinical symptoms of Osler-Rendu-Weber syndrome. However, the A482V mutation detected by our analysis does not correspond to any of the three documented mutations in kindreds with this heritable disease (30). Therefore, the pathogenetic consequences of A482V of Alk1 are unknown at this time.

Given the paucity of mutations in the activin/TGFß receptor superfamily in human pituitary adenomas, it is possible that the observed tumor-nonresponsive phenotype resides in dysregulation or disruption of downstream intracellular signaling mediators. Potential candidates include the intracellular Smad proteins that mediate TGFß-type receptor signaling in response to activin, TGFß, and bone morphogenetic proteins, among other ligands. In the activin pathway, ligand binding to activin receptors leads to phosphorylation of Smad-2–4, which homo/heterodimerize and accumulate in the nucleus (33). There they form a transcriptional complex with forkhead activin signal transducer-1 and trans-activate activin-responsive genes, leading to their transcription (34). Several homologs of Smads have been well characterized and are involved in diverse processes, including activin signaling and early embryonic development (35, 36). Moreover, Smad-4, also known as "deleted in prostate cancer" (DPC4), is a putative tumor-suppressor protein (37). Future mutational analyses of this pathway in human pituitary tumors will therefore include the Smad effectors of downstream signaling and their potential role in the pathogenesis of human pituitary adenomas.


    Footnotes
 
1 This work was supported in part by NIH Grant DK40947 and by The Jarislowsky Foundation. Back

2 Current address: Harvard Institutes of Medicine, Room 946, 77 Louis Pasteur Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02114. Back

Received July 16, 1998.

Revised January 14, 1999.

Accepted February 17, 1999.


    References
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 

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