c-Cbl and Cbl-b ligases mediate 17-allylaminodemethoxygeldanamycin-induced degradation of autophosphorylated Flt3 kinase with internal tandem duplication through the ubiquitin proteasome pathway.

The class III receptor-tyrosine kinase Flt3 regulates normal hematopoiesis. An internal tandem duplication (ITD) in the juxtamembrane domain of Flt3 (Flt3-ITD) contributes to transformation and is associated with poor prognosis in acute myeloid leukemia. Here, we demonstrate that, as compared with wild-type Flt3 (Flt3-WT), Flt3-ITD more rapidly undergoes degradation through the proteasomal and lysosomal pathways in model hematopoietic 32D cells and in human leukemic MV4-11 cells. The Hsp90 inhibitor 17-allylaminodemethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG) preferentially induced the polyubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of Flt3-ITD autophosphorylated on Tyr-591 in these cells. The E3 ubiquitin ligases c-Cbl and to a lesser extent Cbl-b facilitated at least partly Lys-48-linked polyubiquitination of autophosphorylated Flt3-ITD when coexpressed in 293T cells. Moreover, c-Cbl and Cbl-b facilitated degradation of Flt3-ITD in 293T cells and significantly enhanced the 17-AAG-induced decline in autophosphorylated Flt3-ITD. The enhancement of Flt3-ITD degradation was also observed in 32D cells inducibly overexpressing c-Cbl or Cbl-b. Furthermore, overexpression of loss-of-function mutants of both c-Cbl (c-Cbl-R420Q) and Cbl-b (Cbl-b-C373A) together in 32D cells retarded the degradation of autophosphorylated Flt3-ITD and significantly inhibited the 17-AAG-induced degradation of Flt3-ITD to confer the resistance to cytotoxicity of 17-AAG on these cells. These results suggest that c-Cbl as well as Cbl-b may play important roles in Hsp90 inhibitor-induced degradation of Flt3-ITD through the ubiquitin proteasome system and in regulation of the basal expression level of Flt3-ITD in leukemic cells.