Sk. Muthuswamy et Wj. Muller, DIRECT AND SPECIFIC INTERACTION OF C-SRC WITH NEU IS INVOLVED IN SIGNALING BY THE EPIDERMAL GROWTH-FACTOR RECEPTOR, Oncogene, 11(2), 1995, pp. 271-279
Transgenic mice expressing either the activated or wild type neu oncog
ene heritably develop metastatic mammary tumors. Tumor development in
this transgenic mouse model correlates with activation of the Neu tyro
sine kinase. Recently, we have shown that these Neu-induced mammary tu
mors possess elevated c-Src tyrosine kinase activity. Here, we demonst
rate that c-Src requires tyrosine phosphorylated Neu for its ability t
o associate with Neu in vivo and this association is likely the result
of a direct physical binding of c-Src SH2 domain to the tyrosine phos
phorylated Neu. By contrast, the c-Src SH2 domain did not interact dir
ectly with tyrosine phosphorylated EGFR. Moreover, in established cell
lines expressing elevated levels of EGFR, EGF stimulation results in
transphosphorylation of Neu and formation of complexes between c-Src a
nd tyrosine phosphorylated Neu. Taken together, these observations sug
gest that activation of c-Src by these two closely related EGFR family
members results from a direct and specific interaction of c-Src with
tyrosine phosphorylated Neu.