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Caveolin-1 can regulate vascular smooth muscle cell fate by switching platelet-derived growth factor signaling from a
Timothy E Peterson1, Maria E Guicciardi, Rajiv Gulati
1Mayo Clinic and Foundation, Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
Background:
Caveolin-1 is a regulator of signaling events originating from plasma membrane microdomains termed caveolae. This study was performed to determine the regulatory role of caveolin-1 on the proliferative events induced by platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs).
Methods And Results:
Treatment of VSMCs with PDGF for 24 hours resulted in a loss of caveolin-1 protein expression and plasma membrane-associated caveolae, despite a 3-fold increase in caveolin-1 mRNA. Pretreatment of VSMCs with chloroquine, an inhibitor of lysosomal function, inhibited the PDGF-induced loss of caveolin-1. These studies demonstrated that caveolin-1 was a target of PDGF signaling events. Adenoviral overexpression of caveolin-1 was associated with a switch in PDGF-induced signaling events from a proliferative response to an apoptotic response. This overexpression inhibited PDGF-induced expression of cyclin D1 in the presence of unaffected mitogen-activated protein kinase activation.
Conclusions:
Taken together, these studies suggest that caveolin-1 is an inhibitor of PDGF proliferative responses and might be capable of transforming PDGF-induced proliferative signals into death signals.
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