Thrombin stimulates the production of phosphatidylinositol 3,4-bisphosphate in human erythroleukemia cells

Protein kinase C-dependent regulation of human erythroleukemia (HEL) cell sphingosine kinase activity

Sphingosine kinase functions in both the catabolism of sphingosine and in signal transduction pathways utilizing sphingosine-1-phosphate. The regulation of sphingosine kinase activity in human erythroleukemia (HEL) cells was investigated by treatment with several bioactive agents. Treatment of HEL cells with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) caused a time- and concentration-dependent increase in sphingosine kinase activity measured in vitro. Sphingosine kinase activity increased in a phorbol ester- and diacylglycerol-specific manner. Staurosporine and calphostin C, protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors, blocked the increased in sphingosine kinase activity, suggesting a PKC-dependent regulation. The effects of PMA on sphingosine kinase were dependent on transcription and translation. Purified PKC had no direct effect on sphingosine kinase activity. However, these studies led to the observation that HEL cell sphingosine kinase activity is stimulated in vitro by phosphatidylserine. Interestingly, other inducers of HEL cell differentiation, dimethylsulfoxide and retinoic acid, did not affect sphingosine kinase activity. These results indicate a separate and distinct pathway of PKC-dependent sphingosine kinase activation, and suggest a role for sphingosine kinase in regulation of cell function.

Haematopoietic colony stimulating factors CSF-1 and GM-CSF increase phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activity in murine bone marrow-derived macrophages

The activity of phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase was examined in murine bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMM) stimulated with the haematopoietic growth factors colony stimulating factor-1 (CSF-1) and granulocyte/macrophage-CSF (GM-CSF). PI 3-kinase was immunoprecipitated from cell lysates using anti-phosphotyrosine antibody or an antibody directed against the 85K subunit of PI 3-kinase, and the activity assayed by the phosphorylation of PI in the presence of [gamma 32P]-ATP. The results demonstrate that CSF-1 increases the activity of PI 3-kinase, as compared to the non-stimulated control, in murine macrophages. Maximum activity was seen after 10 min of stimulation with CSF-1 at 3000-5000 U/ml. The dose-response of CSF-1 is consistent with other biochemical effects of CSF-1 seen in the BMM. GM-CSF also stimulated PI 3-kinase activity although to a lesser extent than CSF-1, correlating well with their degree of mitogenic activity on the BMM. Non-mitogenic macrophage activating agents, such as the phorbol myristate acetate, lipopolysaccharide, concanavalin A and formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine, did not significantly increase the PI 3-kinase activity. Furthermore, CSF-1 failed to stimulate PI 3-kinase activity in resident peritoneal macrophages, a population of macrophages with poor proliferative capacity. These results suggest that the PI 3-kinase activity may be involved in the haemopoietic growth factor signalling pathways regulating macrophage growth.