No abstract

TAM tyrosine kinases play multiple functional roles including regulation of the target genes important in homeostatic regulation of cytokine receptors or Toll-like receptor-mediated signal transduction pathways. Here, we show that TAM receptors affect adult hippocampal neurogenesis and loss of TAM receptors impair hippocampal neurogenesis, largely attributed to exaggerated inflammatory responses by microglia characterized by increased MAP kinase and NF-κB activation and elevated production of proinflammatory cytokines that are detrimental to neuron stem cell (NSC) proliferation and neuronal differentiation. Injection of LPS causes even more severe inhibition of BrdU incorporation in the Tyro3−/−Axl−/−Mertk−/−triple knockout (TKO) brains, consistent with the LPS-elicited enhanced expression of proinflammatory mediators, e.g., IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and iNOS, and this effect is antagonized by co-injection of the anti-inflammatory drug indomethacin in WT but not TKO brains. Conditioned medium from TKO microglia cultures inhibits NSC proliferation and neuronal differentiation. IL-6 knockout in Axl−/−Mertk−/− double knockout (DKO) mice overcomes the inflammatory inhibition of neurogenesis, suggesting that IL-6 is a major downstream neurotoxic mediator under homeostatic regulation by TAM receptors in microglia. In addition, autonomous trophic function of the TAM receptors on the proliferating neuronal progenitors may also promotes progenitor differentiation into immature neurons.

Neurotrophins are a family of growth factors that regulate neural survival, development, function and plasticity in the central and the peripheral nervous system. There are four neurotrophins: nerve growth factor (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) and NT-4. Among them, BDNF is the most studied due to its high expression in the brain. Over the past two decades, BDNF and its receptor tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB) have been reported to be upregulated in a wide range of tumors. This activated signal stimulates a series of downstream pathways, including phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B, Ras-Raf-mitogen activated protein kinase kinase-extracellular signal-regulated kinases, the phospholipase-C-γ pathway and the transactivation of epidermal growth factor receptor. Activation of these signaling pathways induces oncogenic effects by increasing cancer cell growth, proliferation, survival, migration and epithelial to mesenchymal transition, and decreasing anoikis, relapse and chemotherapeutic sensitivity. The present review summarizes recent findings to discuss the role of BDNF in tumors, the underlying molecular mechanism, targeting Trk receptors for treatment of cancers and its potential risk.

Tyro3, Axl and Mertk (TAM) receptor tyrosine kinases play multiple functional roles by either providing intrinsic trophic support for cell growth or regulating the expression of target genes that are important in the homeostatic regulation of immune responses. TAM receptors have been shown to regulate adult hippocampal neurogenesis by negatively regulation of glial cell activation in central nervous system (CNS). In the present study, we further demonstrated that all three TAM receptors were expressed by cultured primary neural stem cells (NSCs) and played a direct growth trophic role in NSCs proliferation, neuronal differentiation and survival. The cultured primary NSCs lacking TAM receptors exhibited slower growth, reduced proliferation and increased apoptosis as shown by decreased BrdU incorporation and increased TUNEL labeling, than those from the WT NSCs. In addition, the neuronal differentiation and maturation of the mutant NSCs were impeded, as characterized by less neuronal differentiation (β-tubulin III+) and neurite outgrowth than their WT counterparts. To elucidate the underlying mechanism that the TAM receptors play on the differentiating NSCs, we examined the expression profile of neurotrophins and their receptors by real-time qPCR on the total RNAs from hippocampus and primary NSCs; and found that the TKO NSC showed a significant reduction in the expression of both nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), but accompanied by compensational increases in the expression of the TrkA, TrkB, TrkC and p75 receptors. These results suggest that TAM receptors support NSCs survival, proliferation and differentiation by regulating expression of neurotrophins, especially the NGF.