Ja. Frost et al., SIMIAN-VIRUS-40 SMALL T-ANTIGEN COOPERATES WITH MITOGEN-ACTIVATED KINASES TO STIMULATE AP-1 ACTIVITY, Molecular and cellular biology, 14(9), 1994, pp. 6244-6252
The simian virus 40 small tumor antigen (small t) specifically interac
ts with protein phosphatase type 2A (PP2A) in vivo and alters its cata
lytic activity in vitro. Among the substrates for PP2A in vitro are th
e activated forms of MEK and ERK kinases. Dephosphorylation of the act
ivating phosphorylation sites on MEK and ERKs by PP2A in vitro results
in a decrease in their respective kinase activities. Recently, it has
been shown that overexpression of small t in CV-1 cells results in an
inhibition of PP2A activity toward MEK and ERK2 and a constitutive up
regulation of MEK and ERK2 activity. Previously, we have observed that
overexpression of either ERK1, MEK1, or a constitutively active trunc
ated form of c-Raf-1 (BXB) is insufficient to activate AP-1 in REF52 f
ibroblasts. We therefore examined whether overexpression of small t ei
ther alone or in conjunction with ERK1, MEK1, or BXB could activate AP
-1. We found that coexpression of small t and either ERK1, MEK1, or BX
B resulted in an increase in AP-1 activity, whereas expression of eith
er small t or any of the kinases alone did not have any effect. Simila
rly, coexpression of small t and ERK1 activated serum response element
-regulated promoters. Coexpression of kinase-deficient mutants of ERK1
and ERK2 inhibited the activation of AP-1 caused by expression of sma
ll t and either MEK1 or BXB. Coexpression of an interfering MEK, which
inhibited AP-1 activation by small t and BXB, did not inhibit the act
ivation of AP-1 caused by small t and ERK1. In contrast to REF52 cells
, we observed that overexpression of either small t or ERK1 alone in C
V-1 cells was sufficient to stimulate AP-1 activity and that this stim
ulation was not enhanced by expression of small t and ERK1 together. T
hese results show that the effects of small t on immediate-early gene
expression depend on the cell type examined and suggest that the mitog
en-activated protein kinase activation pathway is distinctly regulated
in different cell types.