Activated Ki-Ras complements erythropoietin signaling in CTLL-2 cells, inducing tyrosine phosphorylation of a 160-kDa protein.

We have previously shown that expression of erythropoietin (EPO) receptor (EPOR) alone failed to confer EPO responsiveness on the interleukin 2-dependent T-cell line CTLL-2, whereas the introduction of the EPOR into interleukin 3-dependent pro-B-cell lines, such as BAF-B03, allowed the cells to proliferate in response to EPO. Here, we report that additional expression of v-Ki-Ras conferred EPO-dependent growth on CTLL-2 cells expressing the EPOR, with additional formation of a high-affinity EPOR. To investigate possible mechanisms of EPOR downstream signaling induced by v-Ki-Ras expression in these CTLL-2-derived cells, we carried out anti-phosphotyrosine immunoblot analysis of the EPOR complex immunoprecipitated with anti-EPOR antibody from lysates of cells with and without cytokine stimulation, revealing two 160-kDa and 130-kDa phosphotyrosyl proteins. An anti-JAK2 antibody did not react with these proteins, suggesting that they may represent cellular components involved in an EPO-EPOR signaling pathway induced by v-Ki-Ras. Similar phosphotyrosyl proteins were present among Friend erythroleukemia cell lines, in which the Friend virus gp55/EPOR complex on the cell surface constitutively sends signals for cell growth.