The tyrosine kinase class of receptors induces mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation through the sequential interaction of the signaling proteins Grb2, Sos, Ras, Raf, and MEK. Receptors coupled to heterotrimeric guanine triphosphate-binding protein (G protein) stimulate MAPK through Gbetagamma subunits, but the subsequent intervening molecules are still poorly defined. Overexpression of phosphoinositide 3-kinase gamma (PI3Kgamma) in COS-7 cells activated MAPK in a Gbetagamma-dependent fashion, and expression of a catalytically inactive mutant of PI3Kgamma abolished the stimulation of MAPK by Gbetagamma or in response to stimulation of muscarinic (m2) G protein-coupled receptors. Signaling from PI3Kgamma to MAPK appears to require a tyrosine kinase, Shc, Grb2, Sos, Ras, and Raf. These findings indicate that PI3Kgamma mediates Gbetagamma-dependent regulation of the MAPK signaling pathway.

Phosphoinositide-3 kinase activity is implicated in diverse cellular responses triggered by mammalian cell surface receptors and in the regulation of protein sorting in yeast. Receptors with intrinsic and associated tyrosine kinase activity recruit heterodimeric phosphoinositide-3 kinases that consist of p110 catalytic subunits and p85 adaptor molecules containing Src homology 2 (SH2) domains. A phosphoinositide-3 kinase isotype, p110 gamma, was cloned and characterized. The p110 gamma enzyme was activated in vitro by both the alpha and beta gamma subunits of heterotrimeric guanosine triphosphate (GTP)-binding proteins (G proteins) and did not interact with p85. A potential pleckstrin homology domain is located near its amino terminus. The p110 gamma isotype may link signaling through G protein-coupled receptors to the generation of phosphoinositide second messengers phosphorylated in the D-3 position.

The G protein-coupled, receptor-activated phosphoinositide 3-kinase gamma (PI3Kgamma) mediates inflammatory responses and negatively controls cardiac contractility by reducing cAMP concentration. Here, we report that mice carrying a targeted mutation in the PI3Kgamma gene causing loss of kinase activity (PI3KgammaKD/KD) display reduced inflammatory reactions but no alterations in cardiac contractility. We show that, in PI3KgammaKD/KD hearts, cAMP levels are normal and that PI3Kgamma-deficient mice but not PI3KgammaKD/KD mice develop dramatic myocardial damage after chronic pressure overload induced by transverse aortic constriction (TAC). Finally, our data indicate that PI3Kgamma is an essential component of a complex controlling PDE3B phosphodiesterase-mediated cAMP destruction. Thus, cardiac PI3Kgamma participates in two distinct signaling pathways: a kinase-dependent activity that controls PKB/Akt as well as MAPK phosphorylation and contributes to TAC-induced cardiac remodeling, and a kinase-independent activity that relies on protein interactions to regulate PDE3B activity and negatively modulates cardiac contractility.

Many agonists of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) can stimulate receptor tyrosine kinases and the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. A 'transactivation' mechanism, which links these events in one signalling chain, inspired many researchers, but inevitably raised new questions. A 'multi-track' model for GPCR signalling to the ERK/MAPK pathway might resolve some of the puzzles in the transactivation field.

Phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks) activate protein kinase PKB (also termed Akt), and PI3Kgamma activated by heterotrimeric guanosine triphosphate-binding protein can stimulate mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). Exchange of a putative lipid substrate-binding site generated PI3Kgamma proteins with altered or aborted lipid but retained protein kinase activity. Transiently expressed, PI3Kgamma hybrids exhibited wortmannin-sensitive activation of MAPK, whereas a catalytically inactive PI3Kgamma did not. Membrane-targeted PI3Kgamma constitutively produced phosphatidylinositol 3,4, 3,4,5-trisphosphate and activated PKB but not MAPK. Moreover, stimulation of MAPK in response to lysophosphatidic acid was blocked by catalytically inactive PI3Kgamma but not by hybrid PI3Kgammas. Thus, two major signals emerge from PI3Kgamma: phosphoinositides that target PKB and protein phosphorylation that activates MAPK.

Experimental studies in a rat model of fecal peritonitis conducted by Michael Bauer and colleagues show that in this model, changes in liver function occur early in the development of sepsis, with potential implications for prognosis and development of new therapeutic approaches.

Class I phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks) regulate important cellular processes such as mitogenesis, apoptosis, and cytoskeletal functions. They include PI3K␣, -␤, and -␦ isoforms coupled to receptor tyrosine kinases and a PI3K␥ isoform activated by receptor-stimulated G proteins. This study examines the direct interaction of purified recombinant PI3K␥ catalytic subunit (p110␥) and G␤␥ complexes. When phosphatidylinositol was used as a substrate, G␤␥ stimulated p110␥ lipid kinase activity more than 60-fold (EC 50 , ϳ20 nM). Stimulation was inhibited by G␣ o -GDP or wortmannin in a concentration-dependent fashion. Stoichiometric binding of a monoclonal antibody to the putative pleckstrin homology domain of p110␥ did not affect G␤␥-mediated enzymatic stimulation, whereas incubation of G␤␥ with a synthetic peptide resembling a predicted G␤␥ effector domain of type 2 adenylyl cyclase selectively inhibited activation of p110␥. G␤␥ complexes bound to N-as well as C-terminal deletion mutants of p110␥. Correspondingly, these enzymatically inactive N-and C-terminal mutants inhibited G␤␥-mediated activation of wild type p110␥. Our data suggest that (i) p110␥ directly interacts with G␤␥, (ii) the pleckstrin homology domain is not the only region important for G␤␥-mediated activation of the lipid kinase, and (iii) G␤␥ binds to at least two contact sites of p110␥, one of which is close to or within the catalytic core of the enzyme.

SUMMARY Adrenergic stimulation of the heart engages cAMP and phosphoinositide second messenger signaling cascades. Cardiac phosphoinositide 3-kinase p110γ participates in these processes by sustaining β-adrenergic receptor internalization through its catalytic function and by controlling phosphodiesterase 3B (PDE3B) activity via an unknown kinase-independent mechanism. We have discovered that p110γ anchors protein kinase A (PKA) through a site in its N-terminal region. Anchored PKA activates PDE3B to enhance cAMP degradation and phosphorylates p110γ to inhibit PIP3 production. This provides local feedback control of PIP3 and cAMP signaling events. In congestive heart failure, p110γ is upregulated and escapes PKA-mediated inhibition, contributing to a reduction in β-adrenergic receptor density. Pharmacological inhibition of p110γ normalizes β-adrenergic receptor density and improves contractility in failing hearts.