Receptors of the hematopoietin superfamily, including the granulocyte- macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) receptor, lack a tyrosine kinase domain as well as other sequences indicative of a known signaling mechanism. In this report, we identify the serine/threonine kinase, microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) kinase, as an intermediate in the GM-CSF signal transduction pathway. Treatment of peripheral blood neutrophils or terminally differentiated HL-60 cells with GM-CSF induced a rapid and dose-dependent increase in MAP2 kinase activity. Maximal activity occurred within 5 minutes and the kinetics of the response varied depending on the target cell (prolonged in neutrophils and transient in neutrophilic HL-60 cells). MAP2 kinase activity in these cells correlates with the induction of a 42-Kd tyrosine phosphoprotein. Furthermore, tyrosine phosphorylation is necessary for MAP2 kinase activation since its activity is inhibited by treatment with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor, erbstatin analog. These data suggest that tyrosine phosphorylation is important in GM-CSF- mediated signal transduction and that MAP2 kinase activation may be a central biochemical event involved in its signaling.

Receptors of the hematopoietin superfamily, including the granulocyte- macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) receptor, lack a tyrosine kinase domain as well as other sequences indicative of a known signaling mechanism. In this report, we identify the serine/threonine kinase, microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) kinase, as an intermediate in the GM-CSF signal transduction pathway. Treatment of peripheral blood neutrophils or terminally differentiated HL-60 cells with GM-CSF induced a rapid and dose-dependent increase in MAP2 kinase activity. Maximal activity occurred within 5 minutes and the kinetics of the response varied depending on the target cell (prolonged in neutrophils and transient in neutrophilic HL-60 cells). MAP2 kinase activity in these cells correlates with the induction of a 42-Kd tyrosine phosphoprotein. Furthermore, tyrosine phosphorylation is necessary for MAP2 kinase activation since its activity is inhibited by treatment with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor, erbstatin analog. These data suggest that tyrosine phosphorylation is important in GM-CSF- mediated signal transduction and that MAP2 kinase activation may be a central biochemical event involved in its signaling.

IL-6 is a multi-functional cytokine that utilizes 80-kDa ligand-binding and 130-kDa signal-transducing subunits to stimulate diverse cellular responses. Although IL-6R ligation has been associated with tyrosine protein phosphorylation and activation of an unidentified serine/threonine kinase, very little is known about the intermediary signaling events between the cell membrane and the nucleus. rIL-6 treatment of the human B cell line, AF-10, induced MAP kinase (mitogen-activated protein kinase) activity as determined by in vitro phosphorylation of microtubule-associated protein-2 (MAP-2) and the synthetic peptide APRTPGGRR, corresponding to amino acids 95-98 of bovine myelin basic protein. The kinetics of the response was rapid and dependent on the dose of rIL-6. The response was cytokine specific, did not require the presence of extracellular Ca2+, and was minimally affected by the presence of staurosporine. MAP kinase activation in AF-10 cells occurred in parallel with appearance of 42- and 44-kDa tyrosine phosphoproteins (p42 and p44). Moreover, MAP kinase activation was diminished when AF-10 cells were stimulated with rIL-6 in the presence of tyrosine protein kinase inhibitors, genistein and geldanomycin. p42 and p44 co-electrophoresed on SDS-PAGE with extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK)-2, and ERK-1, respectively; both are members of the ERK family. In addition to p42MAPK and p44MAPK, rIL-6 also activated a MAP-2 kinase that eluted at a lower salt concentration (20 to 60 mM NaCl, peak I) from Mono-Q resin than p42MAPK (120 to 180 mM NaCl, peak II). The identify of this kinase is unknown but it is not an MPB kinase or a protein that exhibits immunoreactivity with anti-ERK antisera. In another IL-6-responsive B cell line, SKW6.4, rIL-6-activated peak I MAP-2 kinase but failed to activate ERK-2. The protein kinase C agonist, PMA, did, however, activate ERK-2 in SKW6.4 cells. These results show that the pleiotrophic cytokine, IL-6, activates p42MAPK/ERK-2 and at least one other serine/threonine kinase in B cell lines.