Role of intracellular Ca2+ in the epidermal growth factor induced inhibition of protein tyrosine phosphatase activity in a breast cancer cell line.

Increased protein tyrosyl phosphorylation in response to growth factors has been assumed to be solely due to activation of protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs). We report that total cellular protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTPase) activity declined in MDA-MB 468 breast carcinoma cells exposed to epidermal growth factor (EGF). The PTPase activity decreased with concentration as well as with time of EGF incubation. As EGF induces increases in intracellular Ca2+ concentrations and such changes may result in depression of PTPase activity, we treated cells with the calcium ionophore A 23187. Increases in calcium induced by the ionophore resulted in activation of cellular PTPases as indicated by increased dephosphorylation of tyrosine phosphorylated EGFR by cellular lysates. Thus, both the extracellular ligand EGF and the intracellular messenger Ca2+ were shown to modulate cellular PTPase activity in MDA-MB 468 breast carcinoma cells. However, EGF-induced decreases in PTPase activity cannot be attributed to EGF-induced increases in intracellular Ca2+ levels.