Background
Cell migration plays a central role in a wide range of different biological processes, both normal and pathological, including wound healing, inflammatory response and tumour metastasation [
1]. The capacity of cells to migrate is dependent on signals from the extracellular environment which are transduced via networks of intracellular signal transduction proteins. A variety of intracellular signalling molecules including members of the protein kinase C (PKC) family of isoforms participate in the regulation of cellular migration [
2‐
5].
PKC comprises a family of related serine/threonine kinases that are involved in a number of cellular processes such as proliferation and apoptosis in addition to their roles in regulating cellular morphology, adhesion and migration. Based on regulatory and structural properties, the PKC isoforms can be grouped in three different subfamilies; the classical PKCs (α, βI, βII and γ) are activated by Ca
2+, phospholipids and diacylglycerol (DAG), the novel PKCs (δ, ε, η and θ) are activated by phospholipids and DAG but are insensitive to Ca
2+ while the atypical PKCs (ζ and ι/λ) require neither DAG nor Ca
2+ for activation [
6].
An important role for PKC in cell migration has long been suggested for a wide range of cell types by the fact that phorbol esters, which are general PKC activators, enhance the motility of these cells [
7‐
9]. Further studies have failed to pinpoint one or a few particular isoforms as being general regulators of migration [
5]. It rather seems as if many isoforms have the capacity to influence the migratory behaviour and which isoform that is involved depends on the cell type. Overexpression of PKCα has been shown to increase motility in MCF-10 cells [
10], 2C4 fibrosarcoma cells [
11] and the breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 [
12] and MDA-MB-435 [
13] and PKCβI can mediate cytoskeletal rearrangements and platelet spreading on fibrinogen [
14]. Activation of PKCδ with epidermal growth factor is important for migration of fibroblasts [
15] and elevated levels of PKCδ contribute to a more metastatic phenotype of mammary tumour cells [
16]. Finally, PKCε has been suggested to be important for glioma cell migration [
17] and inhibition of PKCε leads to decreased motility of fibroblasts [
18] and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma [
19].
Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumour among pediatric cancers affecting approximately 1 in 7000 live births [
20]. The cancer is frequently lethal and this is coupled to widespread metastasation. It would therefore be beneficial to understand what regulates the migratory behaviour, which is one precondition for infiltration and spread, of neuroblastoma cells. This study was designed to investigate whether PKC isoforms can influence the migratory capacity of neuroblastoma cells and to elucidate putative pathways mediating the PKC effect.
Methods
Cell culture
Human SK-N-BE(2)C, KCN-69c and SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells were maintained in Minimal Essential Medium (Gibco) supplemented with 10% foetal bovine serum, 100 IU/ml penicillin and 100 μg/ml streptomycin (Gibco).
Transfections with siRNA
Cells were transfected in 1 ml Optimem (Gibco) with 50 nM siRNA (Invitrogen) using 1.5 μl Lipofectamine 2000 (Invitrogen). The siRNA sequences are listed in Table
1. Transfections were interrupted after 6 h by adding 1 ml medium supplemented with 20% foetal bovine serum. The procedure was performed for three consecutive days after which optimal silencing was obtained as determined by Western blot analysis. Immunofluorescence studies have shown that the protein is downregulated to a similar extent in all cells in the culture (not shown).
Table 1
siRNA oligonucleotides
PKCα | CCGAGUGAAACUCACGGACUUCAAU |
PKCδ | UUUCAAAGAGCUUCUCCAGGAUGUC |
PKCε1 | CACAAGUUCGGUAUCCACAACUACA |
PKCε2 | GCAAGGUCAUGUUGGCAGAACUCAA |
PKCε3 | CCACAAGUUCAUGGCCACCUAUCUU |
Migration assay
Cell migration was assayed in triplicates using a 48-well transwell setup (Neuroprobe) using polycarbonate Nucleopore filters with 8 μm pore size. The underside of the membrane was precoated with 20 μg/ml fibronectin (Sigma) in PBS for 16 h at 4°C. Cells were dissociated with trypsin (Gibco) for 5 min followed by addition of 0.1% soy bean trypsin inhibitor (Invitrogen). Cells were centrifuged, resuspended in serum-free medium and 15,000 cells were seeded in the upper chamber of each well. The lower chambers contained serum-free medium supplemented with activators or inhibitors at the following concentrations: 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA; Sigma), 16 nM; GF109203X and Gö6976, 2 μM (both Calbiochem); LY333531, 200 nM (Alexis); PD98059, 50 μM and LY294002, 20 μM (both Sigma). Cells were incubated for 6 h in 37°C. Non-migrated cells on the upper side of the membrane were removed by scraping, while migrated cells attached to the underside of the membrane were fixed for 10 min in methanol and stained with Vectashield with DAPI (Vector laboratories). Cells were examined using a fluorescence microscope and all cells in a specified area in the middle of the membrane were counted.
Scratch assay
Cells were seeded at a density of 450,000 cells per well in 12-well cell culture plates. After incubation for 24 hours, the confluent cell monolayer was scraped with a pipette tip creating a scratch in each well. Medium containing serum supplemented with TPA or inhibitors was added and cells were incubated at 37°C. For experiments with siRNA, 70,000 cells were seeded in 12-well cell culture plates and treated with siRNA as described and 18 hours after the last transfection, cell monolayers were scratched. Cells were photographed at different time points and the scratch area was measured using ImageJ.
Western blot
1.0 × 106 cells were seeded in 60-mm cell culture dishes and incubated for 24 hours. Cells were pre-incubated for 1 h in serum-free medium prior to stimulation. Cells were washed twice in PBS and lysed in RIPA buffer (10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.2, 160 mM NaCl, 1% Triton X-100, 1% sodium deoxycholate, 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate, 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM EGTA) containing 40 μl/ml protease inhibitors (Roche Applied Science). Cells transfected with siRNA were lysed in the same way 18 h after the last transfection. Lysates were centrifuged for 10 min at 14,000 × g at 4°C. Proteins were electrophoretically separated on a 10% NuPAGE Novex Bis-Tris gel (Invitrogen) and transferred to a polyvinylidene diflouride membrane (Millipore). For detection, membranes were incubated with primary antibodies against phospho-MARCKS (1:500), phospho-Erk (1:500), Erk (1:500) (all Cell Signaling), MARCKS (1:1000) (Upstate), PKCα (1:3000), PKCβII (1:500), PKCδ (1:500) or PKCε (1:500) (all Santa Cruz Biotechnology) followed by incubation with a horseradish peroxidase-labelled secondary antibody (1:5000) (Amersham Biosciences). Horseradish peroxidase was thereafter visualised using the SuperSignal system (Pierce) as substrate. The chemoluminescence was detected with a CCD camera (Fujifilm).
Calculations and statistics
IC50 values were calculated by doing a curve fit analysis to the equation y = A/(1+x/B) where A is the maximal effect and B is the IC50 value. Statistical analyses were done by doing ANOVA followed by Duncan's multiple range test using p < 0.05 as level of for significance.
Discussion
A major problem in curing cancer is the capacity of cancer cells to migrate, invade tissues and subsequently seed metastases in other organs. This is also the case for neuroblastoma, a pediatric cancer derived from the peripheral sympathetic nervous system. The mechanisms determining the migratory capacity of neuroblastoma cells are not fully understood. Several reports indicate that growth factors, such as IGF-1 [
27] and PDGF [
25], and integrins [
28] can stimulate neuroblastoma cell motility. In this study we demonstrate that a direct activation of PKC is sufficient to induce migration of neuroblastoma cells and PKC thus arises as an interesting target to suppress the motility of these cells.
Activation of PKC stimulated migration of two different neuroblastoma cell lines, SK-N-BE(2)C and KCN-69c, whereas the SH-SY5Y cell line did not increase its motility in response to PKC activators. This is not due to a poor migratory capacity of these cells since they migrate in response to other stimuli [
25,
27,
28]. However, in terms of PKC effects SH-SY5Y cells are unique in that they differentiate upon treatment with TPA [
29] which may explain why they do not migrate upon PKC activation. Another possible explanation is the fact that SK-N-BE(2)C and KCN-69c, but not SH-SY5Y cells, carry an
NMYC amplification which results in more aggressive tumours [
30]. The amplification may be associated with the presence of a pathway that transduces a PKC signal to increased motility. However, a larger panel of neuroblastoma cells is necessary to corroborate such a hypothesis.
PKC comprises a family of ten related isoforms, eight of which are TPA-sensitive, and of these, neuroblastoma cells generally express PKCα, PKCβII, PKCδ and PKCε [
31]. Reducing the levels of PKCε, but not of PKCα or PKCδ, with siRNA inhibited migration both under basal conditions and when cells were stimulated with TPA. This is not due to off-target effects since three different siRNA oligonucleotides against PKCε all led to a reduced migration. Despite transfecting the cells with siRNA for three consecutive days we were not able to reduce the levels of PKCε completely which raises the possibility that even more suppressive effects could be obtained if PKCε could be depleted from the cells. A role of PKCε is in line with the suppression of the TPA effect obtained by the general PKC inhibitor GF109203X. However, in contrast to PKCε siRNA treatment, the kinase inhibitor did not affect migration under basal conditions. PKCε has been shown to induce morphological effects, induction of neurites [
32] and dismantling of stress fibres [
33], independently of its kinase activity. Our results indicate that also some of the promigratory effects of PKCε may be exerted independently of its catalytic activity.
The inhibitor of classical PKCs, Gö6976, also suppressed migration, indicating a potential role for these isoforms in migration. However, Gö6976 influenced migration both in the absence and presence of TPA contrasting the effect of GF109203X, which did not have an effect under basal conditions. Gö6976 has been shown to exert effects that are unrelated to and independent of PKC inhibition [
34‐
36]. Furthermore, neither inhibition of PKCα with siRNA nor of PKCβ with LY333531 suppressed migration. This makes it more conceivable that PKCε is the primary promigratory PKC isoform in neuroblastoma cells and that Gö6976 inhibits motility by some other actions.
There are several different mechanisms through which PKCε may mediate its effects on cellular motility. Integrins are receptors for extracellular matrix components and are critically involved in the regulation of cell motility. PKCε has been shown to both regulate the recycling of integrins [
18,
37] and participate in down stream signalling following integrin clustering [
17]. One of the putative PKCε targets is Erk which is targeted to focal adhesions following direct activation of PKC [
38] or to focal complexes during HGF-mediated cell movement [
39]. Both of these events are mediated via PKCε but our data do not support a critical role of Erk in PKCε-mediated migration of neuroblastoma cells. Although there was a tendency towards suppression of the wound healing by PD98059, it had no effect in the transwell assay and downregulation of PKCε to levels that cause a reduced migration did not influence TPA-stimulated Erk phosphorylation.
In addition to regulating other signalling proteins, PKC can also phosphorylate several proteins, such as MARCKS and ERM proteins [
11,
40], that more directly regulate the structure of the cytoskeleton. There was indeed a substantial PKC-mediated increase in MARCKS phosphorylation concomitant with TPA-stimulated migration indicating a role for MARCKS in the PKC-mediated motility of neuroblastoma cells. An involvement of MARCKS in PKC-regulated migration has been suggested in many other cell types [
15,
41,
42] and our data would further support the general importance of this pathway.
However, experiments with siRNA showed that the phosphorylation of MARCKS was not altered when any of the isoforms PKCα, PKCδ or PKCε was downregulated. Since downregulation of PKCε leads to suppressed migration it does not seem as if MARCKS is specific and critical in the PKCε pathway. Instead it is conceivable that several isoforms phosphorylate MARCKS upon addition of TPA. This is further supported by the finding that the inhibitor of classical isoforms, Gö6976, partially reduces the phosphorylation whereas the general PKC inhibitor GF109203X has an even larger effect. MARCKS has been shown to be a high affinity substrate for both novel and classical PKC isoforms
in vitro and in intact cells [
43,
44] supporting our finding that several PKC isoforms can phosphorylate MARCKS in SK-N-BE(2)C cells.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by grants from The Swedish Cancer Society, The Swedish Research Council, The Children's Cancer Foundation of Sweden, Malmö University Hospital Research Funds, and the Kock, Crafoord, Ollie and Elof Ericsson and Gunnar Nilsson Foundations.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors' contributions
HS performed all experiments, participated in the design of the study and drafted the manuscript.
CL participated in the design of the study and drafting of the manuscript.