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Blood, Vol. 94 No. 1 (July 1), 1999:
pp. 365-367
Deletion of the Extracellular Membrane-Distal Cytokine Receptor
Homology Module of Mpl Results in Constitutive Cell Growth and Loss
of Thrombopoietin Binding
By
Diana F. Sabath,
Kenneth Kaushansky, and
Virginia C. Broudy
From the Department of Medicine, University of
Washington, Seattle, WA.
 |
ABSTRACT |
The thrombopoietin receptor, Mpl, is a member of the cytokine
receptor superfamily. The extracellular domain of Mpl contains two
copies of the cytokine receptor homology module (CRM). Mpl is encoded
by c-mpl, the cellular homologue of the oncogene v-mpl. The oncogenic potential of v-mpl may arise from deletion of all but the 43 most membrane-proximal amino acids of the extracellular domain of the wild-type receptor. To test the hypothesis that the
extracellular domain of Mpl plays a role in controlling receptor activity, we created mutants of murine Mpl in which the membrane-distal CRM was either deleted or replaced by the membrane-proximal CRM. Introduction of these mutant receptors into factor-dependent BaF3 cells
led to constitutive cell growth in the absence of growth factor. Both
mutant receptors failed to bind 125I-Tpo. These results
suggest that the membrane-distal CRM of Mpl acts as a brake on cell
proliferation and that this region is required for ligand binding.
© 1999 by The American Society of Hematology.
 |
INTRODUCTION |
MPL, THE THROMBOPOIETIN (Tpo)
receptor,1,2 is a member of the cytokine receptor
superfamily.3 One characteristic of these receptors is the
presence of one or more 200 amino acid extracellular cytokine receptor
homology modules (CRMs).4 Like the common chain of the
human interleukin-3 (IL-3), IL-5 and granulocyte-macrophage
colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) receptor ( c), Mpl contains two
CRMs. One potential role for the membrane-distal CRM of Mpl is
suggested by the structure of the oncogene v-mpl.5 v-mpl differs from c-mpl primarily due to deletion of
all but the 43 most membrane-proximal extracellular amino
acids.3 The exact mechanism by which v-mpl is
activating is not known. To test the hypothesis that the extracellular
domain of Mpl plays a role in controlling receptor activity, we created
mutants of murine Mpl in which the membrane-distal CRM (CRM-1) was
either deleted or replaced by the membrane-proximal CRM (CRM-2), which has 33.3% sequence similarity to CRM-1. These mutants were introduced into BaF3 cells and their effects on cell growth and ligand binding were evaluated.
 |
MATERIALS AND METHODS |
Cell culture and growth factors.
IL-3-dependent BaF3 cells were maintained in Iscove's modified
Dulbecco's medium (IMDM; GIBCO/BRL, Grand Island, NY) with 0.9%
Antibiotic/Antimycotic (GIBCO/BRL), 10% fetal calf serum (FCS; Summit
Biotechnology, Fort Collins, CO), and 400 U/mL IL-3.6 Proliferation assays were performed by culturing 3 × 104
cells/mL for 5 days with either no added growth factor or 30 ng/mL
murine Tpo.6 Viable cell number was determined using a hemocytometer.
Construction and expression of murine Mpl mutants.
Full-length murine c-mpl cDNA was used for
mutagenesis.6 Nucleotide numbering refers to the sequence
published by Vigon et al.3 Silent point mutations were
introduced at bp 60 and bp 813 to create an AatII site and a
BglII site, respectively. To introduce the FLAG epitope tag, a
137-bp oligonucleotide
(5'-GCTAGAATTCGATCCCCACCATGTTCCATGTTTCTTTTAGATATATCTTTGGAATTCCTCCACTGATCCTTGTTCT-GCTGCCTGTCACATCATCTGACTACAAAGACGATGACGACAAGGCTGCTCAAGACGTCTTC-3'), encoding the IL-7 secretory leader sequence,7 the FLAG
epitope tag, two alanine residues and the first three nucleotides of
the second exon of c-mpl was synthesized (Universal DNA,
Tigard, OR) and inserted as an EcoRI/AatII fragment
into c-mpl. To create CRM-1, an AatII/BamHI
fragment encoding bp 823 to 1127 was substituted for bp 64 to 1127. To
create CRM-2/CRM-2, an AatII/BglII insert encoding bp
823 to 1449 was substituted for bp 64 to 813. Primers used for PCR
synthesis of the inserts were CRM-1:
5'-GCTTGCGACGTCGGAGATGCAGTGACAATTGG-3' and
5'-CGGGATCCAAAAAGGGGAGCCCAGG-3', and CRM-2/CRM-2:
5'-GCGACGTCGGAGATGCAGTGACA-3' and
5'-GGCAGATCTACCCAAGCAGTCTCGGAGCC-3'. All inserts were sequenced using the ABI Prism Dye Terminator Kit (Perkin Elmer, Foster City, CA).
Full-length cDNAs were subcloned into the expression vector pHZ-1, and
stably transfected by electroporation into BaF3 cells.6 Selection was made on the basis of neomycin resistance by growth in
G418 at a concentration of 1 mg/mL.
Flow cytometry.
Flow cytometry studies were performed using the M2 antibody (Sigma, St
Louis, MO), an isotype control and fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-linked goat anti-mouse IgG (Southern Biotechnology Associates, Birmingham, AL).8
Immunoprecipitation and Western blot analysis.
Mpl was immunoprecipitated from cell lysates prepared from 30 to 50 × 106 cells using polyclonal antibody to Mpl.6
Samples were analyzed by Western blot analysis using enhanced
chemiluminescence (ECL) per the manufacturer's instructions (Amersham
Pharmacia, Piscataway, NJ) with the M2 antibody.
Binding studies.
Binding studies were performed using purified recombinant 70-kD murine
Tpo, provided by Drs Dan Eaton and Fred de Sauvage (Genentech Inc,
South San Francisco, CA). 1 × 106 cells were
incubated with 125I-Tpo (170 pmol/L) in the presence or
absence of 14 nmol/L unlabeled Tpo for 1 hour at 37°C.8
 |
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION |
Construction and expression of FLAG-tagged mutant c-mpl cDNAs.
An amino-terminal FLAG epitope tag was introduced by substituting the
IL-7 secretory leader followed by the FLAG epitope for the first exon
of c-mpl, which encodes only the native Mpl secretory leader.9 A construct in which the FLAG epitope immediately followed the native c-mpl secretory leader did not produce a
surface-expressed protein. Two mutant cDNAs were constructed: CRM-1,
in which CRM-1 of Mpl was deleted, and CRM-2/CRM-2, in which the
membrane-proximal CRM-2 of Mpl was substituted for CRM-1 (Fig
1). BaF3 cells stably transfected with
either FLAG-tagged Mpl (Mpl-FLAG), CRM-1, or CRM-2/CRM-2 were
obtained by G418 selection. Surface expression of receptors was
confirmed by flow cytometry. Western blot analysis of Mpl-FLAG,
CRM-1, and CRM/CRM2 cells revealed the presence of 95-kD, 47-kD, and
86-kD proteins, respectively. The molecular weights obtained for
CRM-1 and CRM2/CRM2 correspond to the sizes predicted for the mutant
proteins.

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| Fig 1.
Schematic diagram of Mpl-FLAG, CRM-1, and CRM-2/CRM-2
mutants. Mpl-FLAG represents FLAG-tagged wild-type Mpl, CRM-1, a
mutant in which the membrane-distal CRM-1 has been deleted, and
CRM-2/CRM-2, a mutant in which the membrane-proximal CRM-2 of Mpl has
been substituted for CRM-1.
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Effect of mutations on cell proliferation and ligand binding.
In the absence of growth factor, parental BaF3 and Mpl-FLAG
cells failed to proliferate while CRM-1 and CRM-2/CRM-2 cells were
able to grow (Fig 2A). Similar results were obtained in
either one (CRM2/CRM2) or two ( CRM-1) additional independent
transfection experiments. In all experiments, CRM-1 or CRM-2/CRM-2
cells became factor-independent within 1 to 2 weeks of G418 selection.
The rapid appearance of factor-independent cells in separate
experiments suggests that these results were not caused by the presence
of a single clone containing a spontaneous mutation or DNA
rearrangement. These studies show that deletion of CRM-1 from Mpl is an
activating mutation as defined by Gonda and D'Andrea,10
and suggest that one role of CRM-1 is to act as a brake on cell
proliferation. This inhibitory effect appears to be specific to CRM-1,
as substitution of CRM-2 did not restore factor dependence. The
mechanism of activation may involve changes in receptor conformation
that mimic those induced by ligand binding, such as formation of active
receptor dimers. We were unable to show dimerization of either the
mutant receptors or of wild-type receptor stimulated by
Tpo by chemical cross-linking (unpublished data, January
1999). Similarly, dimerization of Mpl by Tpo could not be
shown in normal human platelets.8

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| Fig 2.
Proliferative response and ligand binding by CRM-1 and
CRM-2/CRM-2 cells. (A) BaF3, Mpl-FLAG, CRM-1, and CRM-2/CRM-2 cells
were grown either in the absence of growth factor ( ) or presence
( ) of recombinant murine Tpo 30 ng/mL for 5 days. All values were
determined in triplicate. Error bars represent SEM. (B) Binding of
125I-Tpo by BaF3, Mpl-FLAG, CRM-1, and CRM-2/CRM-2
cells. Cells were incubated with 125I-Tpo in the absence
( ) or the presence ( ) of excess unlabeled 70-kD Tpo. The values
represent mean of triplicate measurements. Error bars indicate standard
error of the mean. Similar results were obtained in two additional
experiments.
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c also contains two CRMs. Although deletion of the membrane-distal
CRM of c alone was not activating, deletion of both this region and
a portion of the membrane-proximal CRM was.11 These results
suggest that, like Mpl, c contains regions that inhibit receptor
activation in the absence of ligand although the specific regions
involved may differ.
Because growth in Tpo had no effect on the proliferation of CRM-1
and CRM-2/CRM-2 cells (Fig 2A), binding studies were performed. Neither
CRM-1 or CRM-2/CRM-2 cells were able to bind 70-kD
125I-Tpo (Fig 2B). These results suggest that the
membrane-distal domain of Mpl is important for ligand binding. Failure
to bind was not due to absence of surface expression, as both mutants were detected on the cell surface in flow cytometric studies. The
membrane-distal CRM of the murine IL-3-specific chain, AIC2A, has
also been shown to be necessary for ligand binding.12
However, in contrast to our results, binding was restored when the
membrane-distal domain of the alternative murine chain, AIC2B, was
substituted for the membrane-distal domain of AIC2A.
We found that the membrane-distal CRM of Mpl plays important roles both
in controlling Mpl-induced cell growth and in ligand binding. Our
results are consistent with a model in which the oncogenic potential of
v-mpl may arise from deletion of CRM-1 of Mpl. Future studies
will be needed to further delineate the mechanisms by which these
processes are mediated.
 |
FOOTNOTES |
Submitted February 2, 1999; accepted March 24, 1999.
Supported by National Institutes of Health Grants No. DK02448 and
DK49855. D.F.S. is a recipient of an American Society of Clinical
Oncology Young Investigator Award.
The publication costs of this
article were defrayed in part by
page charge payment. This article
must therefore be hereby marked
"advertisement"
in accordance with 18 U.S.C. section
1734 solely to indicate this fact.
Address reprint requests to Diana F. Sabath, MD, University of
Washington, Division of Hematology, Box 357710, Seattle, WA 98195;
e-mail: dfsabath{at}u.washington.edu.
 |
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