Involvement of GPR12 in the regulation of cell proliferation and survival

GPR12, a member of the orphan G-protein-coupled receptor family, constitutively activates the Gs protein and increases intracellular cyclic AMP concentrations. GPR12 can be activated by its known ligand-sphingosylphosphorylcholine, which regulates cellular physiological activities, including proliferation, neurite extension, cell clustering, and maintenance of meiotic arrest. However, signaling pathways involved in the GPR12-mediated physiological and biochemical changes are still not clearly illustrated. In the present study, heterologous GPR12 expression was demonstrated to promote proliferation and survival in human embryonic kidney 293 cells. Immunochemical analysis showed that Ki67, a prototypic cell cycle-related nuclear protein, might participate in the regulation of GPR12-mediated cell proliferation. Activation of extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase signaling and increased total Erk1/2 and B-cell lymphoma/leukemia-2 expression were also observed in HEK293 cells overexpressing human GPR12. In addition, we found that GPR12 promoted cell survival under serum deprivation, indicating that GPR12 may play a role in cell proliferation and survival.