HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE ADVANCED SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Chrestensen, C. A. Articles by Sturgill, T. W. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Chrestensen, C. A. Articles by Sturgill, T. W.

¹ Department of Pharmacology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA
² Digestive Health Center of Excellence, University of Virginia Health Sciences Center, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA
³ Department of Genetics, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Osaka 565-0871, Japan

Map kinase-interacting protein kinases 1 and 2 (MNK1, MNK2) function downstream of p38 and ERK MAP kinases, but there are large gaps in our knowledge of how MNKs are regulated and function. Mice deleted of both genes are apparently normal, suggesting that MNKs function in adaptive pathways during stress. Here, we show that mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs) obtained from mnk1 (–/–)/mnk2 (–/–) as well as mnk1 (–/–) and mnk2 (–/–) mice are sensitized to caspase-3 activation upon withdrawal of serum in comparison to wild-type cells. Caspase-3 cleavage occurs with all cells in the panel, but most rapidly and robustly in cells derived from mice lacking both MNK genes. Treatment of wild-type MEFs in the panel with a compound (CGP57380) that inhibits MNK1 and MNK2 sensitizes wild-type cells for serum-withdrawal induced apoptosis, suggesting that sensitization is due to loss of MNK function and not to a secondary event. Reintroduction of wild-type MNK1 in the double knockout MEFs results in decreased sensitivity to serum withdrawal that is not observed for wild-type MNK2, or the kinase dead variant. Our work identifies MNKs as kinases involved in anti-apoptotic signaling in response to serum withdrawal.

Communicated by: Eisuke Nishida

^* Correspondence: E-mail: thomas_sturgill{at}virginia.edu

This article has been cited by other articles:

				B. Dolniak, E. Katsoulidis, N. Carayol, J. K. Altman, A. J. Redig, M. S. Tallman, T. Ueda, R. Watanabe-Fukunaga, R. Fukunaga, and L. C. Platanias Regulation of Arsenic Trioxide-induced Cellular Responses by Mnk1 and Mnk2 J. Biol. Chem., May 2, 2008; 283(18): 12034 - 12042. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]