Differential phosphorylation of CK8 and CK18 by 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate in primary cultures of mouse hepatocytes.

The phosphorylation of cytokeratin was investigated in primary cultures of hepatocytes. The two hepatocyte cytokeratins CK8 and CK18 (55,000 and 49,000 M(r) respectively) were phosphorylated, CK8 being more phosphorylated than CK18. Treatment of the hepatocytes with 150 nM 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) an activator of protein kinase C induced a transient increase in the level of phosphorylation of CK8 but not CK18. This effect was maximal after 15 min of TPA treatment and was maintained for up to 3 h. After 22 h of treatment with TPA, which down-regulates protein kinase C, CK8 phosphorylation was returned to the basal level. Further addition of TPA to the 22-h treated cells did not cause an increase in CK8 phosphorylation. Indirect immunofluorescence microscopy with a monoclonal antibody to CK8 indicated that while the addition of TPA induced the formation of granular cytokeratin aggregates in some hepatocytes, in most hepatocytes no major changes in the intermediate filament network were observed. Staining for actin showed that actin microfilaments were rapidly reorganized after the treatment and a loss of stress fibres were observed. We propose that CK8 is an in vivo substrate for protein kinase C and that the specific phosphorylation of CK8 plays a role in protein kinase C signal transduction.