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The candidate tumor-suppressor gene hyaluronidase 2 (HYAL2) encodes a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored cell-surface protein that serves as an entry receptor for jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus, a virus that causes contagious lung cancer in sheep that is morphologically similar to human bronchioloalveolar carcinoma. The viral envelope (Env) protein alone can transform cultured cells, and we hypothesized that Env could bind and sequester the HYAL2 receptor and thus liberate a potential oncogenic factor bound and negatively controlled by HYAL2. Here we show that the HYAL2 receptor protein is associated with the RON receptor tyrosine kinase (also called MST1R or Stk in the mouse), rendering it functionally silent. In human cells expressing a jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus Env transgene, the Env protein physically associates with HYAL2. RON liberated from the association with HYAL2 becomes functionally active and consequently activates the Akt and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways leading to oncogenic transformation of immortalized human bronchial epithelial cells. We find activated RON in a subset of human bronchioloalveolar carcinoma tumors, suggesting RON involvement in this type of human lung cancer.

RON is a receptor tyrosine kinase belonging to the MET proto-oncogene family. The purposes of this study are to determine the expression and activation of RON in a panel of human colon carcinoma cell lines. Western blotting showed that RON is barely detectable in normal and SV-40-transformed colon epithelial cells, but highly expressed and constitutively activated in several colon carcinoma cell lines including Colo201, HT-29, HCT116, and SW837. Moreover, a novel RON variant with a molecular mass of 160 kDa (RONDelta160) was identified from HT-29 cells. The cDNA encoding RONDelta160 has an in-frame deletion of 109 amino acids in the extracellular domain of the RON beta chain, which is caused by splicing out of two exons in the RON mRNA. No mutations were found in the kinase domain of the RON gene in five carcinoma cell lines screened. By expressing RON in colon epithelial cells, we found that RON activation increases cell motile-invasive activities and protects cells against apoptotic death. These data suggest that RON expression and activation are deregulated in colon carcinoma cell lines. By abnormal activation of RON, this receptor and its variant may regulate motile-invasive phenotypes of certain colon carcinoma cells in vivo., (Copyright 2000 Academic Press.)

The human RON gene (MST1R) maps to 3p21.3, a region frequently altered in lung cancer and other malignancies. It encodes a receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) closely related to MET, whose mutations are associated with neoplasia. We investigated whether RON might be involved in the development or progression of lung cancer. We first determined the exon-intron structure of the gene by direct sequencing of RON cosmid DNA and PCR products containing intronic sequences, and then developed primers suitable for mutation analysis by the single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) method. Twenty coding exons were characterized, all but the first one small (average size: 170 bp), a feature shared with other RTK genes. We performed SSCP analysis of RON in small and non-small cell lung cancer samples, upon detection of its expression in a sample of lung cancer cell lines. A mutation (T915C: L296P) was found in an adenocarcinoma specimen. Several single nucleotide polymorphisms were also found. The panel of intron-anchored primers developed in this work will be useful for mutation analysis of the RON gene in different types of human tumors., (Copyright 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Cooperation between integrins and growth factor receptors plays an important role in the regulation of cell growth, differentiation, and survival. The function of growth factor receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) can be regulated by cell adhesion to extracellular matrix (ECM) even in the absence of ligand. We investigated the pathway involved in integrin-mediated RTK activation, using RON, the receptor for macrophage-stimulating protein. Adhesion of RON-expressing epithelial cells to ECM caused phosphorylation of RON, which depended on the kinase activity of both RON itself and c-Src. This conclusion is based on these observations: 1) ECM-induced RON phosphorylation was inhibited in cells expressing kinase-inactive c-Src; 2) active c-Src could phosphorylate immunoprecipitated RON from ECM-stimulated cells but not from unstimulated cells; and 3) ECM did not cause RON phosphorylation in cells expressing kinase-dead RON, nor could active c-Src phosphorylate RON immunoprecipitated from these cells. The data fit a pathway in which ECM-induced integrin aggregation causes both c-Src activation and RON oligomerization followed by RON kinase-dependent autophosphorylation; this results in RON becoming a target for activated c-Src, which phosphorylates additional tyrosines on RON. Integrin-induced epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) phosphorylation also depended on both EGFR and c-Src kinase activities. This sequence appears to be a general pathway for integrin-dependent growth factor RTK activation.

We report the production of polyclonal antibodies directed against the human melatonin receptors Mel-1a (mt1) and Mel-1b (MT2) by means of antigenic synthetic peptides with sequences unique to these proteins. Immunostaining on NIH3T3 cells stably transfected with Mel-1a and Mel-1b cDNA gave intense reactions. Neither the preimmune serum nor cross-tested antisera showed any reactivity. These polyclonal antibodies will be essential immunocytochemical tools to study the human melatonin receptors distribution at subcellular level.

NIH3T3 fibroblast cells transfected with the full-length coding region of the MT2 human melatonin receptor stably expressed the receptor that is coupled to a pertussis toxin-sensitive G protein and exhibits high affinity for melatonin (K(I) = 261 pM). The order of apparent affinity for selected compounds was: 4-phenyl-2-propionamidotetralin (4P-PDOT) > 2-phenylmelatonin > 2-iodomelatonin > 2-bromomelatonin > 6-chloromelatonin > or = melatonin > luzindole > N-acetyl-tryptamine > or = N-[(2-phenyl-1H-indol-3-yl)ethyl]cyclobutanecarboxamide (compound 6) > N-acetylserotonin. 4P-PDOT exhibited a very high selectivity (approximately 22,000 times) for the MT2 receptor with respect to the mt1 receptor subtype, as tested in comparative experiments with membrane preparations from NIH3T3 cells stably transfected with the human mt1 receptor. MT2 melatonin receptors mediated incorporation of [35S]-GTPgammaS into isolated membranes via receptor catalyzed exchange of [35S]-GTPgammaS for GDP. The relative intrinsic activity and potency of the compounds were subsequently studied by using [35S]-GTPgammaS incorporation. The order of potency was equal to the order of apparent affinity. Melatonin and full agonists increased [35S]-GTPgammaS binding by 250% over basal (taken as 100%). Luzindole did not increase basal [35S]-GTPgammaS binding but competitively inhibited melatonin-stimulated [35S]-GTPgammaS binding, thus exhibiting antagonist action. The other two mt1 antagonists used here, 4P-PDOT and N-[(2-phenyl-1H-indol-3-yl)ethyl]cyclobutanecarboxamide, behaved as partial agonists at the MT2 subtype, with relative intrinsic activities of 0.37 and 0.39, respectively. These findings show, for the first time, important differences in the intrinsic activity of analogues between the human mt1 and MT2 melatonin receptor subtypes.

1. Mouse fibroblasts (NIH3T3) transfected with the full-length coding region of the Mel1a melatonin receptor stably expressed the receptor, coupled to a pertussis toxin-sensitive G-protein(s) and exhibiting high affinity and adequate pharmacological profile. 2. The receptor protein had the tendency of a strong coupling to the G-protein and therefore low-affinity state was induced by uncoupling the receptor from its G-protein in presence of high concentrations of NaCl (500-700 mM) and/or GTPgammaS (100 microM). Thereafter, the affinity of a series of melatonin analogues was determined to both, high- and low-affinity receptor states, thus providing a basis for the prediction of their efficacy, according to the ternary complex model. 3. The cells were subsequently used to study the agonist-induced G-protein activation, determined by calculating the rate of GDP-GTP exchange measured in presence of 35S-labelled GTPgammaS. The natural ligand melatonin induced a significant increase in the GDP-GTP exchange rate, the presence of GDP and NaCl being necessary to observe this effect. 4. The full agonists 2-phenylmelatonin, 2-bromomelatonin and 6-chloromelatonin equally induced an increase of the GDP-GTP exchange. 5-Hydroxy-N-acetyltryptamine activated the GTP-GDP exchange to a much lesser extent (53%) than melatonin, thus behaving as a partial agonist. As predicted by the model, the melatonin antagonist (N-[(2-phenyl-1H-indol-3-yl)ethyl]cyclobutanecarboxamide) was without effect on basal G protein activation. Coincubation of this compound with melatonin induced a dose-dependent rightward shift in the melatonin concentration-effect curve, thus exhibiting the behaviour of a competitive and surmountable antagonist. 5. Using the equation proposed by Venter (1997) we were able to determine that there were no 'spare' receptors in the system. Therefore, the approach proposed in the present work can be successfully used for the determination of 'drug action' at the level of the human Mel1a melatonin receptor and evaluation of the efficacy of new selective melatonin analogues.

Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis performed on total RNA from different tissues of Xenopus laevis showed that the melatonin receptor gene cloned from dermal melanophores is expressed in the whole brain, skin, and retina, and that apart from the ovary, there is no expression in tissues having origin outside the central nervous system. Comparative studies using in vitro autoradiography and in situ hybridization demonstrated that the melatonin receptor is expressed with discrete allocation in Xenopus brain. Though the distribution pattern of the specific messenger RNA conforms well with that of the corresponding receptor protein, it is not always coincident.