Human progesterone receptor transformation and nuclear down-regulation are independent of phosphorylation

We have studied the phosphorylation of progesterone receptors (PR) in T47Dco human breast cancer cells using a monoclonal antibody directed against human PR called AB-52. This antibody recognizes both the A- (Mr approximately 94,000) and B- (Mr approximately 120,000) hormone binding proteins of PR, and was used to immunoprecipitate phosphorylated receptors isolated from cells incubated in vivo with [32P]orthophosphate. The specific activity, or phosphorylation levels, relative to protein levels was quantified by combined immunoblotting and autoradiography followed by densitometry. We find that immunopurified untransformed hormone-free receptors, which have a characteristic triplet B, singlet A structure, are phosphoproteins with similar levels of phosphate incorporation in all protein bands. If PR are first transformed to the nuclear binding form by treatment of cells with progesterone, and then labeled with [32P]orthophosphate, the receptor proteins are additionally phosphorylated. These chromatin-bound hormone occupied receptors incorporate five to 10 times more labeled phosphate per total receptor protein than do PR from untreated cells during the same [32P]incubation time. The second round of phosphorylation may also account for mobility shifts of transformed A- and B-receptors observed in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels. Both untransformed and transformed species of A- and B-receptors are phosphorylated only on serine residues, and neither the extent of phosphorylation, nor the phosphoamino acids, are affected by treatment of the cells with epidermal growth factor or insulin. We previously reported that after hormone binding and transformation of receptors to the tight chromatin binding state, PR undergo processing, or nuclear down-regulation. AB-52 was used to compare PR protein and phosphorylation levels when cells were treated for 0.5-48 h with progesterone or the synthetic progestin R5020. Both agonists lead to hyperphosphorylation of nuclear PR before phosphorylation levels decrease, in parallel with the drop in protein levels as receptors down-regulate. Treatment of cells with RU 486, an antiprogestin, leads to PR transformation as determined by immunoblotting, but subsequent down-regulation does not occur. After transformation, chromatin-bound RU 486-occupied receptors become intensely phosphorylated however, with specific activities 15 times greater than those of untransformed PR. Since these receptors are phosphorylated but not processed, the hormone-induced nuclear phosphorylation of PR is unlikely to be a signal for receptor processing.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)