The sulfhydryl reagent N-ethylmaleimide induces hyperphosphorylation on tyrosine residues in the Jurkat T-cell line

N-ethylmaleimide inhibition of thrombin-induced platelet aggregation

The data presented in this report show that N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) is a powerful inhibitor of thrombin-induced platelet aggregation. NEM increased guanosine 3', 5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) and adenosine 3', 5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) levels in intact cells. The inhibition of cAMP high-affinity phosphodiesterase and cGMP phosphodiesterase was implicated in the elevation of the cyclic nucleotides. NEM dose dependently blocked the thrombin-stimulated, but not the phorbol myristate acetate-dependent phosphorylation of the protein kinase C substrate pleckstrin. Myosin light chain phosphorylation was also inhibited by NEM. In addition, the sulphydryl reagent inhibited Ca2+ mobilisation induced by thrombin. The data indicate that phospholipase C activation by thrombin is interrupted by NEM at the level of receptor-mediated signal transduction.

Properties of pervanadate and permolybdate. Connexin43, phosphatase inhibition, and thiol reactivity as model systems

Pervanadate and permolybdate are irreversible protein-tyrosine phosphatase inhibitors, with IC50 values of 0.3 and 20 microM, respectively, in intact cells. Maximal inhibition was obtained within 1 min at higher concentrations of the compounds. They induced prominent changes in the phosphorylation status of the gap junction protein, connexin43. These effects were utilized as model systems to assess the stability and inactivation of the compounds. Although the concentrated stock solutions were relatively stable, the diluted compounds were unstable. The biological activity had decreased to 20-30% after 6 h of incubation in a phosphate buffer, 1 h in phosphate buffer with 10% fetal calf serum, and 1-3 minutes in culture medium. Thiols reacted rapidly with the compounds and inactivated them (initial reaction rates with cysteine: permolybdate > pervanadate > H2O2). Catalase inactivated the compounds, and permolybdate was the more sensitive. The cells inactivated permolybdate faster than pervanadate. Cellular inactivation of permolybdate, and to a lesser degree pervanadate, appeared to be partly dependent on catalase and thiols. However, a general decrease in cellular thiols was not the mediator of the biological effects of pervanadate or permolybdate. Mathematical modeling of the thiol reactivity suggested that monoperoxovanadate at maximum could possess 20% of the biological activity of diperoxovanadate.

Evidence for the activation of the signal-responsive phospholipase A2 by exogenous hydrogen peroxide

The intracellular events that lead to arachidonic acid release from bovine endothelial cells in culture treated with hydrogen peroxide were characterized. The hydrogen peroxide-stimulated release of arachidonic acid was time- and dose-dependent, with maximal release achieved at 15 minutes after the addition of 100 microM hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide-stimulated release of arachidonic acid was blocked with the phospholipase A2 inhibitor quinacrine. Treatment of the cells with hydrogen peroxide did not result in liberation of oleic acid, indicating that hydrogen peroxide exercised its effect on an arachidonate-specific phospholipase. Pretreatment of the cells with antioxidants, transition metal chelators, and hydroxyl radical scavengers did not affect the hydrogen peroxide-stimulated arachidonic acid release, indicating that the response to hydrogen peroxide is not oxygen radical-mediated. The response to hydrogen peroxide does not appear to be calcium-dependent, due to the following two observations: (a) No increase in intracellular calcium was seen upon exposure of the FURA2-loaded cells to hydrogen peroxide at concentrations sufficient to release arachidonic acid, and (b) no change in the release response was detected in cells loaded with the intracellular calcium chelator BAPTA. Significant inhibition of arachidonic acid release was seen when the cells were pretreated with inhibitors of protein kinase C, but not with inhibitors of tyrosine kinase. The results of these studies indicate that hydrogen peroxide-stimulated arachidonic acid release is mediated by a specific signal-responsive phospholipase A2, and that this process is not mediated via the actions of either lipid peroxidation or calcium but, rather, that a stimulation of intracellular kinase activity is necessary for this response.

N-ethyl maleimide stimulates arachidonic acid release through activation of the signal-responsive phospholipase A2 in endothelial cells

Treatment of bovine endothelial cells with the alkylator N-ethyl maleimide results in arachidonic acid mobilization. N-ethyl maleimide-stimulated arachidonic acid release was dose and time dependent and maximum release was achieved after 10-15 min with 50 microM N-ethyl maleimide, N-ethyl maleimide-stimulated arachidonic acid release could be prevented by pretreating the cells with the phospholipase A2 inhibitor quinacrine. Based on the finding that N-ethyl maleimide was not able to release oleic acid from oleic acid-preloaded cells, it was clear that the effect of N-ethyl maleimide was limited to an arachidonic acid-specific phospholipase. The effect of N-ethyl maleimide does not appear to be dependent on calcium, as shown by the observation that N-ethyl maleimide was not able to increase intracellular calcium concentration in FURA2-loaded cells. Pretreatment of the cells with staurosporine totally inhibited N-ethyl maleimide-stimulated arachidonic acid liberation. The tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein was also able to significantly inhibit arachidonic acid release. It is concluded from the results obtained in this study that N-ethyl maleimide stimulates arachidonic acid release by stimulating the activity of a specific, signal-responsive phospholipase A2. Furthermore this activation is not mediated by intracellular calcium fluxes but by a stimulation of intracellular kinase activity which eventually leads to the activation of this signal-responsive phospholipase A2.

Triggering of human natural killer cells through CD16 induces tyrosine phosphorylation of the p72syk kinase

Activation of protein tyrosine kinases (PTK) is an initial and obligatory event for the triggering of human natural killer (NK) cells to cytotoxicity. Of the different PTK detected in NK cells, only p56lck has previously been shown to participate in NK cell activation. Here we present evidence that another PTK, p72syk, is involved in activation of NK cells. Stimulation with a monoclonal antibody to to the Fc gamma RIII receptor (CD16) induced an increased tyrosine phosphorylation of p72syk. This phosphorylation correlated with an increased tyrosine kinase activity of p72syk towards a synthetic peptide substrate. A severalfold increase in the catalytic activity of p72syk was also seen after treatment of NK cells with an inhibitor of phosphotyrosine phosphatases, pervanadate. We conclude that triggering of the cytotoxic response in NK cells is associated with activation of p72syk.

Phenylarsine oxide and phorbol myristate acetate inhibit the CD3-induced rise of cytosolic Ca2+ in Jurkat cells by refilling internal Ca2+ stores

Phenylarsine oxide (PAO), an inhibitor of tyrosine phosphatases, has been found to inhibit the early elevation in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i), related to the CD3 activation pathway in Jurkat T cells. This inhibition was dose-dependent, consistent with previously reported effects of PAO on tyrosine phosphatases, and reversed by dimercaptopropanol. By contrast, okadaic acid, an inhibitor of serine/threonine phosphatases, had no effect on CD3-induced Ca2+ flux. PAO was compared with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), which caused a similar, although less potent, inhibition as previously described. The two reagents produced additive inhibition of the CD3-induced [Ca2+]i rise, but did not affect thapsigargin- or ionomycin-driven Ca2+ flux in Jurkat cells. PAO and PMA prevented cells from complete depletion of intracellular Ca2+ stores by an anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody (mAb) and restored, at least partially, the ionomycin-sensitive pool, when added after anti-CD3 mAb. Moreover, the CD3-induced inhibition of phosphatidylserine synthesis, due to depletion of internal Ca2+ stores, is reversed by PAO and PMA. Anti-phosphotyrosine immunoblot analysis show that these effects cannot be accounted for by an inhibition of CD3-induced tyrosine phosphorylations. We propose that PAO and, to a lesser extent, PMA allow the refilling of internal compartments by Ca2+, which consequently abrogates a capacitative entry of external Ca2+.