Both homo-and hetero-dimers of ErbB receptor tyrosine kinases mediate signaling by a large group of epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like ligands. However, some ligands are more potent than others, although they bind to the same direct receptor. In addition, signaling by receptor heterodimers is superior to homodimers. We addressed the mechanism underlying these two features of signal tuning by using three ligands: EGF; transforming growth factor α (TGFα); and their chimera, denoted E4T, which act on cells singly expressing ErbB-1 as a weak, a strong, and a very strong agonist, respectively. Co-expression of ErbB-2, a developmentally important co-receptor whose expression is frequently elevated in human cancers, specifically potentiated EGF signaling to the level achieved by TGFα, an effect that was partially mimicked by ErbB-3. Analysis of the mechanism underlying this trans-potentiation implied that EGF-driven homodimers of ErbB-1 are destined for intracellular degradation, whereas the corresponding heterodimers with ErbB-2 or with ErbB-3, dissociate in the early endosome. As a consequence, in the presence of either co-receptor, ErbB-1 is recycled to the cell surface and its signaling is enhanced. This latter route is followed by TGFα-driven homodimers of ErbB-1, and also by E4T-bound receptors, whose signaling is further enhanced by repeated cycles of binding and dissociation from the receptors. We conclude that alternative endocytic routes of homo-and hetero-dimeric receptor complexes may contribute to tuning and diversification of signal transduction. In addition, the ability of ErbB-2 to shunt ligand-activated receptors to recycling may explain, in part, its oncogenic potential.

The ErbB-1 receptor tyrosine kinase binds to six di erent growth factors, whose prototype is the epidermal growth factor (EGF). Two homologous epithelial receptors, ErbB-3 and ErbB-4, bind all isoforms of another family of growth factors, the Neu di erentiation factors (NDFs/neuregulins). The fourth member of the ErbB family, ErbB-2, acts as the preferred heterodimeric partner of ligand-occupied complexes of the three other ErbB proteins. Here we report that at high concentrations, EGF can induce cell growth and di erentiation in the absence of ErbB-1. This function is shared by betacellulin, but not by three other ligands, including the transforming growth factor a (TGFa). The functional receptor was identi®ed as a heterodimer between ErbB-3 and ErbB-2, a previously identi®ed oncogenic complex. When singly expressed, neither ErbB-3 nor ErbB-2 can mediate signaling by EGF. In addition, when co-expressed, blocking either receptor by using site-speci®c antibodies inhibited EGF and betacellulin activities, indicating strict cooperativity between ErbB-3 and ErbB-2. Through analysis of chimeras between EGF and TGFa, we identi®ed the middle portion of EGF (loop B) as the site that enables activation of ErbB-2/ErbB-3. In conclusion, cooperative and promiscuous binding of stroma-derived growth factors by the epithelium-expressed ErbB-2/ErbB-3 heterodimer may be signi®cant to cancer development. The mechanistic implications of our results for a model that attributes receptor dimerization to ligand bivalency, as well as to a recently proposed mechanism of secondary dimerization, are discussed.

The finding that human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) and human transforming growth factor (hTGF) ␣ bind with similar affinity to the human EGF receptor but differ in their affinity for the chicken EGF receptor was used as a model system to study ligand-receptor interaction of EGF receptor agonists. We previously constructed domain-exchange mutants of hEGF and hTGF␣ and found that the region COOH-terminal of the sixth cysteine residue in hTGF␣ is important for high affinity binding to the chicken EGF receptor (Kramer, R. H., Lenferink, A. E. G., Lammerts van Bueren-Koornneef, I., van der Meer, A., van Human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) 1 and human transforming growth factor (hTGF) ␣ belong to the same family of growth factors. They both bind with high affinity to the human EGF receptor, but hEGF has a 10 -50-fold lower affinity for the chicken EGF receptor than hTGF␣ (1). All members of the EGF family are characterized by the presence of six identically spaced cysteine residues, which form three intramolecular disulfide bridges. Together with some highly conserved glycine residues they are essential for the correct three-dimensional structure of the growth factor and for high affinity binding to the EGF receptor (2-4). Several other amino acids in hEGF like Leu-47 (Leu-48 in hTGF␣) and Arg-41 (Arg-42 in hTGF␣), which are not involved in maintaining structural integrity, have been shown to be crucial for high affinity binding to the EGF receptor, which suggests that they form part of the binding domain (5-9). The crystal structure of hEGF or hTGF␣ is not available, and most of the information on the structure of these growth factors has come from detailed 1 H NMR studies. Based on the observation that amino acids surrounding the second cysteine residue are in close contact with amino acids near the sixth cysteine residue, it has been postulated that Tyr-13/Leu-15/His-16 together with Arg-41/Gln-43/Leu-47 form the binding site in hEGF (10 -12). The exact region involved in binding to the receptor is still not known, however, and this has hampered the design of receptor antagonists.To gain more insight in the way hEGF and hTGF␣ bind to their receptor, we recently used the difference in binding affinity of these growth factors for the chicken EGF receptor as a model system. A total of 10 hEGF/hTGF␣ chimeras were constructed in which regions bordered by the highly conserved cysteine residues were exchanged, and their relative binding affinity for the chicken EGF receptor was assessed (13). Introduction of the region COOH-terminal of the sixth cysteine residue of hTGF␣ into hEGF appeared to be sufficient to confer high affinity binding characteristics to hEGF, and, in line with this, an exchange of the same region in hTGF␣ with the corresponding hEGF sequence caused hTGF␣ to lose its high affinity for the chicken EGF receptor. These data indicate that the COOH-terminal region in EGF receptor agonists plays an important role in receptor binding. In a recent 1 H NMR study (14), it has been shown that this region of ...

Human epidermal growth factor (EGF) and human transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-alpha) are structurally related polypeptide growth factors that exert their mitogenic activity through interaction with a common cell-surface receptor, the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). The biological effect induced by these two ligands is quantitatively similar in most cases; in some test systems, however, TGF-alpha functions as a more potent form of EGF. In this study, we have compared EGF, TGF-alpha and ten previously described chimaeras of these two ligands in terms of their ability to generate a mitogenic response in cells carrying the human EGFR, and observed that three of the mutant growth factors (E3T, E4T and T3E4T) are mitogenic at concentrations 10-fold lower than that of either wild-type EGF or TGF-alpha. No difference in tyrosine kinase activity of the receptor towards an external substrate was observed after binding of the various mutants. It has been established before [Ebner and Derynck (1991) Cell Regulation 2, 599-612] that EGF and TGF-alpha differ in the processing of the receptor-ligand complex after internalization, as a result of their different pH sensitivities of receptor binding. Similar measurements on our chimaeric mutants revealed that the above superagonists show an enhanced pH dependence of binding in comparison with EGF. Furthermore, induction of receptor recycling by these superagonists is largely comparable with that induced by TGF-alpha. No superagonistic behaviour was observed on a cell-line containing an EGFR/erbB-2 chimaera which does not show ligand-induced internalization. These data show that EGF/TGFalpha chimaeras can be more active than the naturally occurring ligands, and that receptor recycling after ligand-induced internalization seems to be a prerequisite for this phenomenon.

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