Activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway by the erythropoietin receptor

The erythropoietin receptor (EpoR) belongs to the cytokine receptor family, members of which lack a tyrosine kinase domain. Recent studies, however, have shown that a cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase, JAK2, interacts with the cytoplasmic domain of the EpoR and becomes activated upon binding of Epo to the receptor. Epo has also been shown to stimulate activation of Ras and Raf-1. The present studies were undertaken to examine the possible involvement of Epo-induced tyrosine phosphorylation in activation of the Ras/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAP kinase) pathway and to determine its significance on the growth signaling from the EpoR. In an interleukin (IL)-3-dependent cell line expressing the transfected wild-type EpoR, Epo, or IL-3 induced tyrosine phosphorylation of Shc and its association with Grb2. These cytokines also induced tyrosine phosphorylation and activation of MAP kinase isoforms ERK1 and ERK2. A mutant EpoR with a carboxyl-terminal deletion of 108 amino acids (H mutant), which is mitogenically functional but lacks tyrosine phosphorylation sites in the carboxyl-terminal region, showed markedly diminished abilities to induce tyrosine phosphorylation of Shc and to phosphorylate and activate MAP kinases. A mutant receptor (PM4 mutant) inactivated by a point mutation, Trp282 to Arg, which abrogates the interaction with JAK2, failed to induce any effect on Shc or MAP kinases. In cells expressing a mutant EpoR that is constitutively activated by a point mutation, Arg129 to Cys, in the extracellular portion of the receptor, neither tyrosine phosphorylation of Shc nor activation of MAP kinases by phosphorylation was detectable without stimulation with Epo or IL-3. These results suggest that the carboxyl-terminal region of EpoR may play a crucial role in activation of MAP kinases through the Ras signaling pathway which may be activated by tyrosine phosphorylation of Shc and its association with Grb2. The activation of MAP kinases, however, failed to correlate with the mitogenic activity of mutant EpoRs and thus may not be required for growth signaling from the EpoR.