The enhanced tumorigenic activity of a mutant epidermal growth factor receptor common in human cancers is mediated by threshold levels of constitutive tyrosine phosphorylation and unattenuated signaling.

Deregulation of signaling by the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is common in human malignancy progression. One mutant EGFR (variously named DeltaEGFR, de2-7 EGFR, or EGFRvIII), which occurs frequently in human cancers, lacks a portion of the extracellular ligand-binding domain due to genomic deletions that eliminate exons 2 to 7 and confers a dramatic enhancement of brain tumor cell tumorigenicity in vivo. In order to dissect the molecular mechanisms of this activity, we analyzed location, autophosphorylation, and attenuation of the mutant receptors. The mutant receptors were expressed on the cell surface and constitutively autophosphorylated at a significantly decreased level compared with wild-type EGFR activated by ligand treatment. Unlike wild-type EGFR, the constitutively active DeltaEGFR were not down-regulated, suggesting that the altered conformation of the mutant did not result in exposure of receptor sequence motifs required for endocytosis and lysosomal sorting. Mutational analysis showed that the enhanced tumorigenicity was dependent on intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity and was mediated through the carboxyl terminus. In contrast with wild-type receptor, mutation of any major tyrosine autophosphorylation site abolished these activities suggesting that the biological functions of DeltaEGFR are due to low constitutive activation with mitogenic effects amplified by failure to attenuate signaling by receptor down-regulation.