Influence of S100A6 on CacyBP/SIP Phosphorylation and Elk-1 Transcriptional Activity in Neuroblastoma NB2a Cells

In this work, we have found that casein kinase II (CKII) phosphorylates the CacyBP/SIP protein under in vitro conditions and have mapped the phosphorylation site to threonine 184. Moreover, we present evidence that S100A6, a CacyBP/SIP interacting protein, inhibits this phosphorylation in the presence of Ca(2+). CacyBP/SIP phosphorylation by CKII was also observed in neuroblastoma NB2a cells. Interestingly, we have found that the effect of DRB, a CKII inhibitor, on CacyBP/SIP phosphorylation state is similar to that of S100A6 overexpression. Phosphorylation at threonine 184 seems to have an effect on CacyBP/SIP phosphatase activity since the T184E phosphorylation mimic mutant overexpressed in NB2a cells has lower phosphatase activity toward p-ERK1/2 when compared to the non-phosphorylable T184A mutant or to the wild-type protein. In conclusion, our data suggest that S100A6 and Ca(2+), through inhibiting CacyBP/SIP phosphorylation on threonine 184, are important regulators of CacyBP/SIP phosphatase activity and of ERK1/2-Elk-1 signaling pathway.