We have previously shown that in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, a mutant cell line with a defective regulatory subunit (RI) for the cAMP-dependent protein kinase (Abraham et al: Mol. Cell. Biol., 7:3098-3106, 1987), and a transfectant cell line expressing the same mutant kinase, showed increased sensitivity to a number of drugs that are known to be substrates for the multidrug transporter (P-glycoprotein). In the current study we have investigated the mechanism by which cAMP-dependent protein kinase controls drug resistance. We report here that the sensitivity of the kinase defective CHO cell lines to multiple drugs results from decreased RNA levels for the multidrug-resistance gene. Similar results were obtained with mouse Y1 adrenal cells. Wild-type Y1 cells had high levels of P-glycoprotein due to expression of both the mdr1b and mdr2 genes, whereas the cAMP-dependent protein kinase mutant Kin 8 cells had decreased RNA levels for these genes. A Kin 8 transfectant with restored cAMP-dependent protein kinase activity recovered mdr expression, indicating a cause and effect relationship between the protein kinase mutations and mdr expression. No changes in nuclear run-off assays could be detected, suggesting a non-transcriptional mechanism of regulation. Wild-type Y1 cells are more drug sensitive despite having higher levels of P-glycoprotein than the mutant cells. This paradoxical result may be explained by the higher rate of synthesis of steroids by the wild-type Y1 cells, which appear to be inhibitors of P-glycoprotein transport activity.

A series of mutant cell lines (Kin) were previously isolated from Y1 adrenocortical tumor cells based on their ability to resist the growth-inhibitory effects of 8-bromo cAMP. In these Kin clones, cAMP-dependent protein kinase (cAMPdPK) was resistant to activation by cAMP as the consequence of mutations affecting the type I regulatory subunit (RI) of the enzyme. This study shows that the cAMP-resistant phenotypes of mutant clones Kin-2, Kin-7, and Kin-8 were associated with single base changes causing substitutions, respectively, of Glu for Gly200, Trp for Arg334, and Asp for Gly324 in the RI protein. By expressing the mutant Trp334 and Asp324 forms of RI under the control of an inducible promoter in Y1 cells, the causal relationship between these RI mutations and impairment of cAMP-stimulated adrenocortical responses was studied. Expression of the mutant RI forms rendered cAMPdPK resistant to activation by cAMP and decreased cAMP-stimulated cell rounding, steroid production, and growth inhibition. These observations indicate that the cAMP-resistant phenotype of Kin mutant clones resulted specifically from single mutational events in RI and thus establish the importance of cAMPdPK as an essential regulator of adrenocortical function. Unlike the original Kin mutant clones, transformants expressing the mutant forms of RI had adenylyl cyclases that were resistant to activation by ACTH, forskolin, or sodium fluoride. These results indicate that there may be a hitherto unappreciated mechanism of regulation of adenylyl cyclase activity by cAMPdPK.

The Y1 adrenocortical tumor cell mutants, Kin-7 and Kin-8, harbor point mutations in the regulatory subunit (RI) of the type 1 cAMP-dependent protein kinase (cAMPdPK) that render the enzyme resistant to activation by cAMP. These mutants also are resistant to many of the regulatory effects of ACTH and cAMP. In order to examine the causal relationships between the mutations in cAMPdPK and the resistance to ACTH and cAMP, the Kin mutants were transfected with expression vectors encoding wild type subunits of cAMPdPK in order to restore cAMP-responsive protein kinase activity. The transformants then were screened for the concomitant recovery of cellular responsiveness to ACTH and cAMP. In the mutant Kin-7, cAMP-responsive protein kinase activity was recovered after transfection with an expression vector encoding wild type mouse RI. Protein kinase activity in the mutant Kin-8 remained largely cAMP-resistant after transfection with the RI expression vector but could be rendered cAMP-responsive by transfection with an expression vector encoding the wild type catalytic subunit. The recovery of cAMP-responsive protein kinase activity was accompanied by the recovery of steroidogenic and morphological responses to ACTH and cAMP, suggesting that the cAMP-dependent signaling cascade plays an obligatory role in these actions of ACTH. The growth-regulatory effects of cAMP were not reversed with the recovery of cAMP-responsive protein kinase activity, suggesting that cAMP-resistant growth regulation results from second-site, adaptive mutations either in the original Kin mutant population or in the transformants. Studies on the conversion of 22(R)-hydroxycholesterol into steroid products in parent and mutant cells indicate that the Kin mutations reduce the steroidogenic capacity of the cell as well as inhibit the hormone- and cyclic nucleotide-dependent mobilization of substrate cholesterol.

In order to evaluate the importance of cAMP and cAMP-dependent protein kinase (cAMPdPK) in the regulation of chloride efflux via the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) chloride channel, Caco-2, human colonic carcinoma cells were transfected with an expression vector encoding a mutant form of regulatory subunit of cAMPdPK under control of the mouse metallothionein 1 promoter. Four stable transformants were isolated that expressed the mutant subunit in a Zn(2+)-inducible manner and exhibited Zn(2+)-inducible inhibition of cAMPdPK activity. The parental and transformed Caco-2 cells were examined for their abilities to regulate chloride efflux in response to various secretagogues using a radioactive iodide-efflux assay. In the transformants, induction of the protein kinase mutation with ZnSO4 markedly decreased chloride efflux in response to forskolin, the 8-(4-chlorophenylthio) analog of cAMP, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, prostaglandin E2 and isoproterenol, whereas Zn(2+)-treated parental cells remained responsive to these secretagogues. Treatment with carbachol, calcium ionophores or phorbol ester did not acutely affect chloride efflux. Together, these studies indicate that cAMP and cAMPdPK are essential components of secretagogue-regulated chloride channel activity in the Caco-2 cell line. In whole cell patch clamp recordings, induction of the cAMPdPK mutation inhibited anionic conductances indicative of the CFTR chloride channel, whereas purified catalytic subunit of cAMPdPK, added intracellularly, reversed the inhibition. These latter results demonstrate that the CFTR chloride channels in the protein kinase-defective transformants are normal and that the protein kinase mutation specifically affects their regulation, presumably by direct phosphorylation.