Studies of MEKK2 activation mechanisms and its biological role in LPS/TLR4 signaling

Dongyu Zhang, The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston

Abstract

MEKK2 is an evolutionarily conserved mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) kinase kinase (MAP3K) that controls the MAPK and IKK-NF-κB pathways. The MAPK and IKK pathways are intracellular signaling networks that are crucial for the Toll-like receptor (TLR) mediated innate immunity, cellular stress and many other physiological responses. Members of the MAP3K family are central to the activation of these processes. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying stimuli-mediated MAP3K activation remain largely unknown. In this study, we identified a key phosphoserine residue, Ser-519 in MEKK2, and its equivalent site Ser-526 in MEKK3 within their activation loop whose phosphorylation are essential for their optimal activation. Mutation of this regulatory serine to an alanine severely impaired MEKK2 activation and MEKK2 signaling to its downstream targets. To demonstrate that physiological stimuli induce this serine phosphorylation, we generated an antibody that specifically recognizes the phosphorylated serine residue. We found that many, but not all, of the MAPK agonists, including the TLR ligands, growth factors, cytokines and cellular stresses, induced this regulatory serine phosphorylation in MEKK2, suggesting an involvement of MEKK2 in the activation of the MAPK cascade leading to different cellular responses. We further investigated the specific role of MEKK2 in LPS/TLR4 signaling by using MEKK2−/− mice. We found that MEKK2 was selectively required for LPS-induced ERK1/2 activation, but not JNK, p38 or NF-κB activation. We also found that MEKK2 was involved in TLR4 dependent induction of proinflammatory cytokines and LPS-induced septic shock. In conclusion, we identified a key regulatory serine residue in the activation loop of MEKK2 whose phosphorylation is a key sensor of receptor- and cellular stress-mediated signals. We also demonstrated that MEKK2 is crucial for TLR4-mediated innate immunity.

Subject Area

Immunology|Biochemistry

Recommended Citation

Zhang, Dongyu, "Studies of MEKK2 activation mechanisms and its biological role in LPS/TLR4 signaling" (2005). Texas Medical Center Dissertations (via ProQuest). AAI3180681.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/dissertations/AAI3180681

Share

COinS