Identification of Tyrosine Residues of Importance for Survival Signaling through the Scaffolding Protein Gab2 in Both Wild-Type FLT3 and the FLT3-ITD.

The receptor tyrosine kinase FLT3 is normally expressed in hematopoietic progenitor cells and has been implicated as a major cause of transformation in acute myeloid leukemia, where it in approximately 30% of cases is mutated and constitutively active. This is in most cases due to duplication of a DNA sequence coding for amino acids in the juxtamembrane region of FLT3, commonly referred to as ITD (Internal Tandem Duplication). In this study we have identified several novel in vivo tyrosine phosphorylation sites that are phosphorylated in wild-type FLT3 upon ligand stimulation and that are constitutively phosphorylated in the FLT3-ITD. We were able to demonstrate that these phosphorylation sites are critical for full phosphorylation of the scaffolding protein Gab2 both in wild-type FLT3 and FLT3-ITD. Y-to-F mutants of either wild-type FLT3 or FLT3-ITD, lacking these tyrosine residues, fail to phosphorylate Gab2 and demonstrate a considerable reduction in phosphorylation of Akt and Erk. Furthermore, FL-dependent survival and proliferation of wild-type FLT3 expressing Ba/F3 cells as well as FL-independent survival and proliferation of Ba/F3 cells transfected with FLT3-ITD was dramatically reduced by mutation of these tyrosine residues. In the case of the FLT3-ITD, this was shown to correlate with strongly reduced STAT5 phosphorylation. To verify the importance of Gab2 in FLT3-ITD signaling, we used siRNA technology to knock down the expression of Gab2 in the human AML cell line MV4-11 that is known to express FLT3-ITD. Knockdown of Gab2 expression led to a dramatic reduction in the phosphorylation of Akt, Erk and Stat5. To summarize, we have identified novel phosphorylation sites in FLT3 and how they link to downstream signaling of survival and proliferation. These findings not only reveal novel phosphorylation sites in FLT3 but also contribute to the understanding of the molecular mechanism by which FLT3-ITD functions in pathological conditions. Future studies are aiming at elucidating the mechanism by which Gab2 mediates phosphorylation and activation of STAT5, which could be a future potential target for therapy in AML with FLT3-ITD.