Ezrin-radixin-moesin-binding phosphoprotein-50 regulates EGF-induced AKT activation through interaction with EGFR and PTEN

Dysregulated epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling, especially EGFR/AKT signaling, plays important roles in tumorigenesis and progression, the study on intracellular regulation of this signaling pathway has great clinical significance. Phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten (PTEN) is an important antagonist of AKT activity. Its regulation of AKT activity can be enhanced by ezrin-radixin-moesin-binding phosphoprotein-50 (EBP50)-mediated PTEN/EBP50/platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR) complex. EBP50 was reported to bind to EGFR, and that it may also mediate the formation of PTEN/EGFR complex to regulate EGFR/AKT signaling. In this study, experiments were performed to verify the hypothesis. Results showed that PTEN co-immunoprecipitated with EGFR, demonstrating PTEN/EGFR complex can form in tissue. Further studies showed that EBP50 knockdown decreased the amount of PTEN/EGFR complex by GST pull-down assay, and EBP50 overexpression increased the amount of PTEN/EGFR complex in a dose-dependent manner. While PTEN mutant (V403A), which can not bind with EBP50, only slightly mediated the formation of PTEN/EGFR complex, confirming that EBP50 specifically mediated the formation of the PTEN/EGFR complex. Both PTEN (V403A) and EGFR (L1043/1063F) mutants can not bind with EBP50. The expression of PTEN (V403A) or EGFR (L1043/1063F) mutant in cells resulted in higher AKT activation level than their respective wild-types by EGF stimulation, indicating that EBP50-mediated PTEN/EGFR complex can effectively inhibit EGF-induced AKT activation. EGF stimulation of siEBP50 cells induced higher AKT activation level compared with control cells, further confirming EBP50-mediated PTEN/EGFR complex can more effectively inhibit EGF-induced AKT activation. These results demonstrated the PTEN/EGFR complex formed under the mediation of EBP50, revealing a novel mechanism for negative regulation of EGF-induced AKT pathway, which may be an important molecular target for antineoplastic therapy.