Rab GTPases are regulators of intracellular membrane traffic. We report a possible function of Rab27a, a protein implicated in several diseases, including Griscelli syndrome, choroideremia, and the Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome mouse model, gunmetal. We studied endogenous Rab27a and overexpressed enhanced GFP-Rab27a fusion protein in several cultured melanocyte and melanoma-derived cell lines. In pigmented cells, we observed that Rab27a decorates melanosomes, whereas in nonpigmented cells Rab27a colocalizes with melanosome-resident proteins. When dominant interfering Rab27a mutants were expressed in pigmented cells, we observed a redistribution of pigment granules with perinuclear clustering. This phenotype is similar to that observed by others in melanocytes derived from the ashen and dilute mutant mice, which bear mutations in the Rab27a and MyoVa loci, respectively. We also found that myosinVa coimmunoprecipitates with Rab27a in extracts from melanocytes and that both Rab27a and myosinVa colocalize on the cytoplasmic face of peripheral melanosomes in wild-type melanocytes. However, the amount of myosinVa in melanosomes from Rab27a-deficient ashen melanocytes is greatly reduced. These results, together with recent data implicating myosinVa in the peripheral capture of melanosomes, suggest that Rab27a is necessary for the recruitment of myosinVa, so allowing the peripheral retention of melanosomes in melanocytes.

Translocation of ricin A chain to the cytosol has been proposed to take place from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), but attempts to visualize ricin in this organelle have failed. Here we modified ricin A chain to contain a tyrosine sulfation site alone or in combination with N-glycosylation sites. When reconstituted with ricin B chain and incubated with cells in the presence of Na 2 35 SO 4 , the modified A chains were labeled. The labeling was prevented by brefeldin A and ilimaquinone, and it appears to take place in the Golgi apparatus. This method allows selective labeling of ricin molecules that have already been transported retrograde to this organelle. A chain containing C-terminal N-glycosylation sites became core glycosylated, indicating retrograde transport to the ER. In part of the toxin molecules, the A chain was released from the B chain and translocated to the cytosol. The finding that glycosylated A chain was present in the cytosol indicates that translocation takes place after transport of the toxin to the ER.

Ricin acts by translocating to the cytosol the enzymatically active toxin A-chain, which inactivates ribosomes. Retrograde intracellular transport and translocation of ricin was studied under conditions that alter the sensitivity of cells to the toxin. For this purpose tyrosine sulfation of mutant A-chain in the Golgi apparatus, glycosylation in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and appearance of A-chain in the cytosolic fraction was monitored. Introduction of an ER retrieval signal, a C-terminal KDEL sequence, into the A-chain increased the toxicity and resulted in more efficient glycosylation, indicating enhanced transport from Golgi to ER. Calcium depletion inhibited neither sulfation nor glycosylation but inhibited translocation and toxicity, suggesting that the toxin is translocated to the cytosol by the pathway used by misfolded proteins that are targeted to the proteasomes for degradation. Slightly acidified medium had a similar effect. The proteasome inhibitor, lactacystin, sensitized cells to ricin and increased the amount of ricin A-chain in the cytosol. Anti-Sec61alpha precipitated sulfated and glycosylated ricin A-chain, suggesting that retrograde toxin translocation involves Sec61p. The data indicate that retrograde translocation across the ER membrane is required for intoxication.

U2OSDr1 cells, originating from a human osteosarcoma, are resistant to the intracellular action of diphtheria toxin but contain toxin receptors on their surfaces. These cells do not have detectable amounts of fibroblast growth factor receptors. When these cells were transfected with fibroblast growth factor receptor 4, the addition of acidic fibroblast growth factor to the medium induced tyrosine phosphorylation, DNA synthesis, and cell proliferation. A considerable fraction of the cell-associated growth factor was found in the nuclear fraction. When the growth factor was fused to the diphtheria toxin A fragment, it was still bound to the growth factor receptor and induced tyrosine phosphorylation but did not induce DNA synthesis or cell proliferation, nor was any fusion protein recovered in the nuclear fraction. On the other hand, when the fusion protein was associated with the diphtheria toxin B fragment to allow translocation to the cytosol by the toxin pathway, the fusion protein was targeted to the nucleus and stimulated both DNA synthesis and cell proliferation. In untransfected cells containing toxin receptors but not fibroblast growth factor receptors, the fusion protein was translocated to the cytosol and targeted to the nucleus, but in this case, it stimulated only DNA synthesis. These data indicate that the following two signals are required to stimulate cell proliferation in transfected U2OS Dr1 cells: the tyrosine kinase signal from the activated fibroblast growth factor receptor and translocation of the growth factor into the cell.Acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF) induces a multitude of responses in target cells. In many cells, this growth factor is a potent mitogen (3, 9, 23, 24); in others, it inhibits proliferation (34) or induces various kinds of differentiation (6,17,27,39,41,44,50,58). The different responses may partly be due to the fact that there are four known FGF receptor genes and a number of splicing variants for three of them (11,22,26,64,65).In a previous paper, we showed by cell fractionation that externally added aFGF was recovered in the nuclear fraction of NIH 3T3 cells, which contain specific FGF receptors. We also presented evidence that targeting to this location is required for the stimulation of DNA synthesis, whereas external binding to the receptor is sufficient to induce tyrosine phosphorylation (62). In Vero Dr22 and U2OS Dr1 cells, which lack specific FGF receptors and do not respond to aFGF, we were able to stimulate DNA synthesis by translocating the growth factor into the cytosol as a fusion protein with the diphtheria toxin A fragment (aFGF-dtA). Reconstituted with the diphtheria toxin B fragment (dtB), the fusion protein was translocated by the diphtheria toxin pathway (42, 43) into the cytosol of Vero Dr22 and U2OS Dr1 cells, which are insensitive to the intracellular action of diphtheria toxin but rich in diphtheria toxin receptors, and it was subsequently found in the nuclear fraction (63). However, there was no stimulation of cell proliferation.In NIH 3T3 ...

Endocytosis and intracellular transport of ricin were studied in stable transfected HeLa cells where overexpression of wild-type (WT) or mutant dynamin is regulated by tetracycline. Overexpression of the temperature-sensitive mutant dynG273D at the nonpermissive temperature or the dynK44A mutant inhibits clathrin-dependent endocytosis (Damke, H., T. Baba, A.M. van der Blieck, and S.L. Schmid. 1995. J. Cell Biol. 131: 69–80; Damke, H., T. Baba, D.E. Warnock, and S.L. Schmid. 1994. J. Cell Biol. 127:915–934). Under these conditions, ricin was endocytosed at a normal level. Surprisingly, overexpression of both mutants made the cells less sensitive to ricin. Butyric acid and trichostatin A treatment enhanced dynamin overexpression and increased the difference in toxin sensitivity between cells with normal and mutant dynamin. Intoxication with ricin seems to require toxin transport to the Golgi apparatus (Sandirg, K., and B. van Deurs. 1996. Physiol. Rev. 76:949–966), and this process was monitored by measuring the incorporation of radioactive sulfate into a modified ricin molecule containing a tyrosine sulfation site. The sulfation of ricin was much greater in cells expressing dynWT than in cells expressing dynK44A. Ultrastructural analysis using a ricin-HRP conjugate confirmed that transport to the Golgi apparatus was severely inhibited in cells expressing dynK44A. In contrast, ricin transport to lysosomes as measured by degradation of 125I-ricin was essentially unchanged in cells expressing dynK44A. These data demonstrate that although ricin is internalized by clathrin-independent endocytosis in cells expressing mutant dynamin, there is a strong and apparently selective inhibition of ricin transport to the Golgi apparatus. Also, in cells with mutant dynamin, there is a redistribution of the mannose-6-phosphate receptor.

Acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF) is a potent mitogen. It acts through activation of specific cell surface receptors leading to intracellular tyrosine phosphorylation cascades, but several reports also indicate that aFGF enters cells and that it has an intracellular function as well. The aFGF(K132E) mutant binds to and activates fibroblast growth factor receptors equally strongly as the wild-type, but it is a poor mitogen. We demonstrate that aFGF(K132E) enters NIH 3T3 cells and is transported to the nuclear fraction like wild-type aFGF. A fusion protein of aFGF(K132E) and diphtheria toxin A-fragment (aFGF(K132E)-DT-A) and a similar fusion protein containing wild-type aFGF (aFGF-DT-A) were reconstituted with diphtheria toxin B-fragment. Both fusion proteins were translocated to the cytosol by the diphtheria toxin pathway and subsequently recovered from the nuclear fraction. Whereas translocation of aFGF-DT-A stimulated DNA synthesis in U2OSDR1 cells lacking functional fibroblast growth factor receptors, aFGF(K132E)-DT-A did not. The mutation disrupts a protein kinase C phosphorylation site in the growth factor making it unable to be phosphorylated. The data indicate that a defect in the intracellular action of aFGF(K132E) is the reason for its strongly reduced mitogenicity, possibly due to inability to be phosphorylated.

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Natural killer (NK) cells are lymphocytes of the innate immune system that survey the body for stressed and abnormal cells. The integration of signals that they receive through various inhibitory and activating cell surface receptors controls their activation and ability to kill target cells and produce cytokines. In this manner, phenotypically and functionally distinct subsets of NK cells help protect against microbial infections and cancer and shape the adaptive immune response. NK cells can use two different mechanisms to kill their targets, either by cytotoxic granule exocytosis or by induction of death receptor-mediated apoptosis. Death ligands belong to the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family of ligands. Upon release in close proximity to a cell slated for killing, perforin forms pores in the cell membrane of the target cell through which granzymes and associated molecules can enter and induce apoptosis. NK cells are also involved in antibody-dependent cellular toxicity via the CD16 receptor. In addition to target recognition, NK cells can be also activated by treatment with multiple compounds with stimulatory properties. Apart from interleukins, which belong to the best characterized group of NK cell-stimulating compounds, vitamins and constituents extracted from plants also display the ability to activate NK cells. The current review characterizes several groups of NK cell-activating compounds: vitamins belonging to classes A, B, C, D, and E, polysaccharides, lectins, and a number of phytochemicals used in cancer research, exhibiting stimulatory properties when applied to NK cells. Although in most cases the exact mechanism of action is not known, constituents described in this review seem to be promising candidates for NK cell-stimulating drugs.