The lysophosphatidic acid 2 receptor mediates down-regulation of Siva-1 to promote cell survival

Siva1 is a XIAP-interacting protein that balances NFkappaB and JNK signalling to promote apoptosis

XIAP is known as a potent inhibitor of apoptosis, but in addition is involved in cellular signalling, including the NFkappaB, JNK and TGFbeta pathways. Our search for XIAP-interacting partners led us to Siva1, a proapoptotic protein that is known to play a role in T-cell apoptosis through a caspase-dependent mitochondrial pathway. The interaction sites between XIAP and Siva1 were mapped to the RING domain of XIAP and the N-terminal, SAH-containing and death-homology-region-containing domains of Siva1. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments showed that XIAP, Siva1 and TAK1 form a ternary complex in Jurkat T cells. Reporter-gene analysis revealed that Siva1 inhibits XIAP- and TAK1-TAB1-mediated NFkappaB activation. By contrast, Siva1 increased XIAP- and TNFalpha-mediated AP1 activity and prolonged TNFalpha-induced JNK activation, whereas knock down of Siva1 resulted in reduced JNK activation. This suggests that Siva1 differentially modulates signalling by JNK and NFkappaB and shifts the balance between these pathways towards enhanced JNK activation, a situation that promotes apoptosis. Ectopically expressed Siva1 increased caspase-3 activity, which was inhibited by XIAP in a ubiquitin-ligase-dependent manner. In line with this, Siva1 was lysine-48-linked polyubiquitylated by XIAP. Our findings suggest that, via physical interaction with XIAP and TAK1, Siva1 diminishes NFkappaB and enhances JNK activity to favour apoptosis.

Lysophosphatidic acid 2 receptor-mediated supramolecular complex formation regulates its antiapoptotic effect

The G protein-coupled lysophosphatidic acid 2 (LPA(2)) receptor elicits prosurvival responses to prevent and rescue cells from apoptosis. However, G protein-coupled signals are not sufficient for the full protective effect of LPA(2). LPA(2) differs from other LPA receptor subtypes in the C-terminal tail, where it contains a zinc finger-binding motif for the interactions with LIM domain-containing TRIP6 and proapoptotic Siva-1, and a PDZ-binding motif through which it complexes with the NHERF2 scaffold protein. In this report, we identify a unique CXXC motif of LPA(2) responsible for the binding to TRIP6 and Siva-1, and demonstrate that disruption of these macromolecular complexes or knockdown of TRIP6 or NHERF2 expression attenuates LPA(2)-mediated protection from chemotherapeutic agent-induced apoptosis. In contrast, knockdown of Siva-1 expression enhances this effect. Furthermore, a PDZ-mediated direct interaction between TRIP6 and NHERF2 facilitates their interaction with LPA(2). Together, these results suggest that in addition to G protein-activated signals, the cooperation embedded in the LPA(2)-TRIP6-NHERF2 ternary complex provides a novel ligand-dependent signal amplification mechanism that is required for LPA(2)-mediated full activation of antiapoptotic signaling.

Regulation of the LPA2 receptor signaling through the carboxyl-terminal tail-mediated protein-protein interactions

While it is well known that lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) mediates diverse physiological and pathophysiological responses through the activation of G protein-coupled LPA receptors, the specificity and molecular mechanisms by which different LPA receptors mediate these biological responses remain largely unknown. Recent identification of several PDZ proteins and zinc finger proteins that interact with the carboxyl-terminal tail of the LPA2 receptor provides a considerable progress towards the understanding of the mechanisms how the LPA2 receptor specifically mediates LPA signaling pathways. These findings have led to the proposal that there are at least two distinct protein interaction motifs present in the carboxyl-terminus of the LPA2 receptor. Together, these data provide a new concept that the efficiency and specificity of the LPA2 receptor-mediated signal transduction can be achieved through the cross-regulation between the classical G protein-activated signaling cascades and the interacting partner-mediated signaling pathways.

A novel deletion mutation in LIPH gene causes autosomal recessive hypotrichosis (LAH2)

Autosomal recessive hypotrichosis is a rare hereditary disorder characterized by sparse hair on scalp and rest of the body of affected subjects. Recently, three clinically similar autosomal recessive forms of hypotrichosis [localized autosomal recessive hypotrichosis (LAH)1], LAH2 and LAH3 have been mapped on chromosomes 18q12.1, 3q27.3, and 13q14.11-q21.32, respectively. For these three loci, two genes DSG4 for LAH1 and LIPH for LAH2 have been identified. To date, only five mutations in DSG4 and two in LIPH genes have been reported. In this study, we have ascertained two large unrelated consanguineous Pakistani families with autosomal recessive form of hypotrichosis. Affected individuals showed homozygosity to the microsatellite markers tightly linked to LIPH gene on chromosome 3q27. Sequence analysis of the gene in the affected subjects from both the families revealed a novel deletion mutation in exon 5 (c.659-660delTA) causing frameshift and downstream premature termination codon. All the three mutations identified in the LIPH gene, including the one in this study, are deletion mutations.