Dual specificity of the interleukin 1- and tumor necrosis factor-activated beta casein kinase

Extracellular phosphorylation and phosphorylated proteins: not just curiosities but physiologically important

Mining of the literature and high-throughput mass spectrometry data from both healthy and diseased tissues and from body fluids reveals evidence that various extracellular proteins can exist in phosphorylated states. Extracellular kinases and phosphatases (ectokinases and ectophosphatases) are active in extracellular spaces during times of sufficiently high concentrations of adenosine triphosphate. There is evidence for a role of extracellular phosphorylation in various physiological functions, including blood coagulation, immune cell activation, and the formation of neuronal networks. Ectokinase activity is increased in some diseases, including cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and some microbial infections. We summarize the literature supporting the physiological and pathological roles of extracellularly localized protein kinases, protein phosphatases, and phosphorylated proteins and provide an analysis of the available mass spectrometry data to annotate potential extracellular phosphorylated proteins.

The genetic background of tumour necrosis factor receptor-associated periodic syndrome and other systemic autoinflammatory disorders

Systemic autoinflammatory disorders are hereditary diseases with symptoms of acute inflammation and a rise in serum acute phase proteins as a consequence, but with no signs of autoimmunity. By the end of the 1990s, four types of hereditary periodic fever had been described in the medical literature: familial Mediterranean fever, hyperimmunoglobulinemia D with periodic fever syndrome (HIDS), tumour necrosis factor receptor-associated periodic fever syndrome (TRAPS) and Muckle-Wells syndrome. Since then, the number of diseases classified as systemic autoinflammatory disorders has increased to eight. In patients of Nordic descent, cases of HIDS and TRAPS have been reported. We provide an overview of the genetic background and main clinical aspects of the different autoinflammatory disorders, with an emphasis on TRAPS.

Summary and comparison of the signaling mechanisms of the Toll/interleukin-1 receptor family

The Toll/interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptor (TIR) family comprises two groups of transmembrane proteins, which share functional and structural properties. The members of the IL-1 receptor (IL-1R) subfamily are characterized by three extracellular immunoglobulin (Ig)-like domains. They form heterodimeric signaling receptor complexes consisting of receptor and accessory proteins. The members of the Toll-like receptor (TLR) subfamily recognize alarm signals that can be derived either from pathogens or the host itself. TLRs possess leucine-rich repeats in their extracellular part. TLRs can form dimeric receptor complexes consisting of two different TLRs or homodimers in the case of TLR4. The TLR4 receptor complex requires supportive molecules for optimal response to its ligand lipopolysaccharide (LPS). A hallmark of the TIR family is the cytoplasmic TIR domain that is indispensable for signal transduction. The TIR domain serves as a scaffold for a series of protein-protein interactions which result in the activation of a unique signaling module consisting of MyD88, interleukin-1 receptor associated kinase (IRAK) family members and Tollip, which is used exclusively by TIR family members. Subsequently, several central signaling pathways are activated in parallel, the activation of NFkappaB being the most prominent event of the inflammatory response. Recent developments indicate that in addition to the common signaling module MyD88/IRAK/Tollip, other molecules can modulate signaling by TLRs, especially of TLR4, resulting in differential biological answers to distinct pathogenic structures. Subtle differences in TLR signaling pathways are now becoming apparent, which reveal how the innate immune system decides at a very early stage the direction in which the adaptive immune response will develop. The creation of pathogen-specific mediator environments by dendritic cells defines whether a cellular or humoral response will be activated in response to the pathogen.

Analysis of mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways used by interleukin 1 in tissues in vivo: activation of hepatic c-Jun N-terminal kinases 1 and 2, and mitogen-activated protein kinase kinases 4 and 7

The effects of interleukin 1 (IL-1) are mediated by the activation of protein kinase signalling pathways, which have been well characterized in cultured cells. We have investigated the activation of these pathways in rabbit liver and other tissues after the systemic administration of IL-1alpha. In liver there was 30-40-fold activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and 5-fold activation of both JNK kinases, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) kinase (MKK)4 and MKK7. IL-1alpha also caused 2-3-fold activation of p38 MAPK and degradation of the inhibitor of nuclear factor kappaB ('IkappaB'), although no activation of extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK) (p42/44 MAPK) was observed. The use of antibodies against specific JNK isoforms showed that, in liver, short (p46) JNK1 and long (p54) JNK2 are the predominant forms activated, with smaller amounts of long JNK1 and short JNK2. No active JNK3 was detected. A similar pattern of JNK activation was seen in lung, spleen, skeletal muscle and kidney. Significant JNK3 activity was detectable only in the brain, although little activation of the JNK pathway in response to IL-1alpha was observed in this tissue. This distribution of active JNK isoforms probably results from a different expression of JNKs within the tissues, rather than from a selective activation of isoforms. We conclude that IL-1alpha might activate a more restricted set of signalling pathways in tissues in vivo than it does in cultured cells, where ERK and JNK3 activation are often observed. Cultured cells might represent a 'repair' phenotype that undergoes a broader set of responses to the cytokine.

Tumor necrosis factor receptor and Fas signaling mechanisms

Four members of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) ligand family, TNF-alpha, LT-alpha, LT-beta, and LIGHT, interact with four receptors of the TNF/nerve growth factor family, the p55 TNF receptor (CD120a), the p75 TNF receptor (CD120b), the lymphotoxin beta receptor (LT beta R), and herpes virus entry mediator (HVEM) to control a wide range of innate and adaptive immune response functions. Of these, the most thoroughly studied are cell death induction and regulation of the inflammatory process. Fas/Apo1 (CD95), a receptor of the TNF receptor family activated by a distinct ligand, induces death in cells through mechanisms shared with CD120a. The last four years have seen a proliferation in knowledge of the proteins participating in the signaling by the TNF system and CD95. The downstream signaling molecules identified so far--caspases, phospholipases, the three known mitogen activated protein (MAP) kinase pathways, and the NF-kappa B activation cascade--mediate the effects of other inducers as well. However, the molecules that initiate these signaling events, including the death domain- and TNF receptor associated factor (TRAF) domain-containing adapter proteins and the signaling enzymes associated with them, are largely unique to the TNF/nerve growth factor receptor family.

Dual specificity protein kinase activity of testis-specific protein kinase 1 and its regulation by autophosphorylation of serine-215 within the activation loop

TESK1 (testis-specific protein kinase 1) is a protein kinase with a structure composed of an N-terminal protein kinase domain and a C-terminal proline-rich domain. Whereas the 3.6-kilobase TESK1 mRNA is expressed predominantly in the testis, a faint 2.5-kilobase TESK1 mRNA is expressed ubiquitously. The kinase domain of TESK1 contains in the catalytic loop in subdomain VIB an unusual DLTSKN sequence, which is not related to the consensus sequence of either serine/threonine kinases or tyrosine kinases. In this study, we show that TESK1 has kinase activity with dual specificity on both serine/threonine and tyrosine residues. In an in vitro kinase reaction, the kinase domain of TESK1 underwent autophosphorylation on serine and tyrosine residues and catalyzed phosphorylation of histone H3 and myelin basic protein on serine, threonine, and tyrosine residues. Site-directed mutagenesis analyses revealed that Ser-215 within the "activation loop" of the kinase domain is the site of serine autophosphorylation of TESK1. Replacement of Ser-215 by alanine almost completely abolished serine autophosphorylation and histone H3 kinase activities. In contrast, replacement of Ser-215 by glutamic acid abolished serine autophosphorylation activity but retained histone H3 kinase activity. These results suggest that autophosphorylation of Ser-215 is an important step to positively regulate the kinase activity of TESK1.

Activation of p42/p44 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) and p38 MAPK by tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is mediated through the death domain of the 55-kDa TNF receptor

In the mouse fibrosarcoma cell line L929sA, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) stimulates activation of the stress-responsive p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), as well as the classical p42 and p44 MAPK. TNF signaling can be mediated by p55 or p75 TNF receptors. Here, we demonstrate that TNF-R55 is sufficient to activate p42/p44 MAPK and p38 MAPK. Moreover, by expressing different membrane-bound or purely cytoplasmic truncations of TNF-R55, we show that the intracellular death domain of TNF-R55 is the crucial domain involved. The cytoplasmic membrane-proximal region of TNF-R55, known to induce neutral sphingomyelinase activation, is not required for activation of p38 MAPK or p421p44 MAPK.

Binding of interleukin-18 to the interleukin-1 receptor homologous receptor IL-1Rrp1 leads to activation of signaling pathways similar to those used by interleukin-1

Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is an inflammatory cytokine that has been shown to enhance a variety of Th1 type T cell responses. Because IL-18 is homologous to IL-1, we tested binding of IL-18 to the known IL-1R family members. We could show binding of IL-18 to the orphan receptor IL-1Rrp1 but not to other IL-1R homologous proteins. IL-1Rrp1 and IL-1RI share highly conserved domains within their cytoplasmic regions. Comparison of the IL-1 and IL-18 signaling mechanisms showed that they activate identical cytoplasmic messengers. IL-18, like IL-1, induced association of its receptor with IRAK and subsequent recruitment of TRAF6. IL-18 activated p38 MAP kinase, jun kinase, and beta casein kinase (TIP kinase), an apparently novel kinase previously thought to be specifically activated by IL-1 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF). IL-18 activated NF-kappaB in EL4/6.1 thymoma cells but not in COS-7 cells, even though the latter presumably contain all components required for the IL-1 signaling pathway. From our binding and signaling studies, we conclude that the IL-18 receptor complex consists of IL-18, the IL-1Rrp1, and another thus far unidentified receptor molecule.

Interleukin-1

Interleukin 1 (IL1) is a primary regulator of inflammatory and immune responses. Via its type I receptor it activates specific protein kinases, including the NF kappa B inducing kinase (NIK) and three distinct mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase cascades. These modulate a number of transcription factors including NF kappa B, AP1 and CREB each of which regulate a plethora of immediate early genes central to the inflammatory response. Phase I clinical trials of the soluble type I receptor and IRAP indicate that these have potential anti-inflammatory effects.