Regulation of epidermal growth factor receptor signal transduction. Role of gangliosides.

The addition of gangliosides to tissue culture cells causes a decrease in the tyrosine protein kinase activity of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor and an inhibition of EGF-stimulated growth. Based on these data, the hypothesis that the EGF receptor is physiologically regulated by gangliosides has been proposed by E.G. Bremer, J. Schlessinger, and S. Hakomori (J. Biol. Chem. (1986) 261, 2434-2440). To test this hypothesis, a mutant Chinese hamster ovary cell line (clone Idl D) that has a reversible defect in the biosynthesis of gangliosides (Kingsley, D.M., Kozarsky, K. F., Hobbie, L., and Krieger, M. (1986) Cell 44, 749-759) was investigated. The human EGF receptor cDNA was expressed in the mutant cells, and the properties of the EGF receptor were examined using cells grown under permissive and nonpermissive conditions. Changes in ganglioside expression were not observed to cause any significant alterations in the affinity or number of EGF receptors detected at the cell surface. However, decreased levels of ganglioside expression were associated with 1) increased EGF receptor autophosphorylation on tyrosine residues, and 2) increased EGF-stimulated cellular proliferation. The inverse correlation observed between the level of ganglioside expression and signal transduction by the EGF receptor is consistent with the hypothesis that the function of the EGF receptor is physiologically regulated by gangliosides.