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THE JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY Vol. 272, No. 1, Issue of January 3, pp.

217–221, 1997
Printed in U.S.A.

Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF)-induced Generation of


Hydrogen Peroxide
ROLE IN EGF RECEPTOR-MEDIATED TYROSINE PHOSPHORYLATION*

(Received for publication, July 25, 1996, and in revised form, October 2, 1996)

Yun Soo Bae‡, Sang Won Kang‡, Min Seok Seo‡, Ivan C. Baines§¶, Ephrem Teklei,
P. Boon Chocki, and Sue Goo Rhee‡**
From the ‡Laboratory of Cell Signaling, the §Laboratory of Cell Biology, and the iLaboratory of Biochemistry, NHLBI,
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892

Recent evidence indicates that reactive oxygen spe- For example, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) mimics the stimulatory
cies (ROS) may function as intracellular messengers in effects of insulin on glucose transport and lipid synthesis in
receptor signaling pathways. The possible role of ROS in adipocytes (2, 3). Recently, the production of ROS has been
epidermal growth factor (EGF) signaling was therefore detected in a variety of cells stimulated with cytokines such as
investigated. Stimulation of A431 human epidermoid transforming growth factor-b1 (4, 5), interleukin-1 (6), and
carcinoma cells with EGF resulted in a transient in- tumor necrosis factor-a (6, 7), with peptide growth factors such
crease in the intracellular concentration of ROS, meas- as platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) (8, 9) and basic fibro-
ured with the oxidation-sensitive fluorescent probe blast growth factor (7, 9), with agonists of receptors with seven
2*,7*-dichlorofluorescin diacetate and laser-scanning transmembrane spans such as angiotensin II (10) and lyso-
confocal microscopy. The predominant ROS produced
phosphatidic acid (11) or with phorbol ester (12).
appeared to be H2O2, because the EGF-induced increase
The term ROS encompasses many species including singlet
in fluorescence was completely abolished by incorpora-
oxygen, the superoxide anion radical (O2. ), H2O2, lipid perox-
tion of catalase into the cells by electroporation. The
elimination of H2O2 by catalase also inhibited the EGF- ides, nitric oxide, peroxynitrite (ONOO2), the thiyl peroxyl
induced tyrosine phosphorylation of various cellular radical (RSOOz), the ferryl radical (FeO21) and the hydroxyl
proteins including the EGF receptor and phospholipase radical (OHz) (13–16). However, the chemical nature of ROS
C-g1. The dependence of H2O2 production on the intrin- generated in response to the activation of various receptors has
sic tyrosine kinase activity of the EGF receptor and the not been well characterized. H2O2 was shown to be a major
autophosphorylation sites located in its COOH-terminal component of ROS in cells activated by transforming growth
tail was investigated. EGF failed to induce H2O2 gener- factor-b1 or PDGF (4, 8). The generation of ROS in response to
ation in cells expressing a kinase-inactive EGF receptor. various external stimuli has been related to the activation of
However, normal H2O2 generation was observed in cells transcription factors such as NF-kB (17) and AP-1 (7, 18),
expressing a mutant receptor from which the 126 COOH- mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases (8, 11), and phospho-
terminal amino acids had been deleted to remove four lipase A2 (19) to the triggering of apoptosis (20), and to the
(out of the total of five) autophosphorylation sites. inhibition of protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPases) (21, 22).
These results suggest that EGF-induced H2O2 formation H2O2 is a small, diffusible, and ubiquitous molecule that can be
requires the kinase activity but probably not the auto- synthesized, as well as destroyed, rapidly in response to exter-
phosphorylation sites of the EGF receptor and that in- nal stimuli. As such it fulfills the important prerequisites for
hibition of protein tyrosine phosphatase activity by an intracellular messengers. We have now investigated the role
H2O2 may be required for EGF-induced protein tyrosine
of ROS in epidermal growth factor (EGF) signal transduction
phosphorylation to be manifested.
by the EGF receptor (EGFR) protein.

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
Reactive oxygen species (ROS)1 are generally considered cy-
Materials—Bovine catalase was obtained from Boehringer Mann-
totoxic, because of the oxidative damage they can cause to heim; Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM), modified Eagle’s
cellular components. However, at low concentrations, ROS may medium without phenol red, fetal bovine serum (FBS), penicillin, and
function as physiological mediators of cellular responses (1). streptomycin were from Life Technologies, Inc.; enhanced chemilumi-
nescence (ECL) reagents were from Amersham Corp.; antibodies to
phosphotyrosine and the EGFR were from Upstate Biotechnology; an-
* The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the tibodies to catalase and a-tubulin were from Calbiochem and Oncogene
payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked Science, respectively; protein A-Sepharose beads were from Pharmacia
“advertisement” in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to Biotech Inc.; and 29,79-dichlorofluorescin diacetate (DCFH-DA) was
indicate this fact. from Molecular Probes. A mixture of monoclonal antibodies that was
¶ Present Address: Dept. of Extramural Affairs, NHLBI, NIH Be-
used for immunoprecipitation of phospholipase C-g1 (PLC-g1) was pre-
thesda, MD 20892.
pared as described (23).
** To whom correspondence should be addressed: NIH, Bldg. 3, Rm.
Cell Culture, Electroporation, and Stimulation with EGF—Human
122, 3 Center Dr. MSC 0320, Bethesda, MD 20892-0320. Tel.: 301-496-
9646; Fax: 301-496-0599. A431 epidermoid carcinoma cells were maintained at 37 °C under an
1
The abbreviations used are: ROS, reactive oxygen species; PDGF, atmosphere of 5% CO2 in 150-mm dishes containing DMEM supple-
platelet-derived growth factor; EGF, epidermal growth factor; EGFR, mented with 10% FBS. At 80 –90% confluency, cells were deprived of
EGF receptor; PTPase, protein tyrosine phosphatase; DMEM, Dulbec- serum for 24 h and then harvested by trypsin treatment. Harvested
co’s modified Eagle’s medium; FBS, fetal bovine serum; DCFH-DA, cells were suspended in serum-free DMEM at a density of ;1 3 107
29,79-dichlorofluorescin diacetate; DCF, 29,79-dichlorofluorescein; SH, cells/ml, and 100-ml portions of the cell suspension were placed in an
Src homology; MAP, mitogen-activated protein; PLC-g1, phospholipase electroporation chamber in the absence or the presence of catalase (8
C-g1. mg/ml). Electroporation was performed by subjecting cells to six pulses,

This paper is available on line at http://www-jbc.stanford.edu/jbc/ 217


This is an Open Access article under the CC BY license.
218 EGF Receptor-mediated H2O2 Generation
at intervals of 1 or 2 s, at a field strength of 850 6 50 V/cm and a
single-pulse width of 250 ms. Cell viability, assessed by trypan blue
exclusion, was typically 70 – 80% after electroporation under these con-
ditions. The construction, operation, and efficiency of the electropora-
tion apparatus have been described previously (24). The electroporated
cells were transferred to DMEM supplemented with 1% FBS and the
same concentration of catalase as was present in the electroporation
chamber and were placed in an incubator for 18 h.
For analysis of EGF-induced tyrosine phosphorylation, cells were
stimulated with EGF (500 ng/ml) for 10 min and then exposed to lysis
buffer (20 mM Hepes-NaOH (pH 7.2), 1% Triton X-100, 10% glycerol, 50
mM NaF, 1 mM Na3VO4, leupeptin (5 mg/ml), aprotinin (5 mg/ml), and 1
mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride). The lysates were incubated on ice
for 5 min and then centrifuged for 5 min at 10,000 3 g. Protein
concentration of the supernatant was measured with the Bio-Rad de-
tergent-compatible assay kit and bovine serum albumin as standard.
Immunoprecipitation and Immunoblot Analysis—The lysate super-
FIG. 1. Time course of EGF-induced ROS generation in A431
natants were incubated with monoclonal antibodies to PLC-g1 or to
cells as revealed by DCF fluorescence. A431 cells were cultured in
phosphotyrosine for 8 h, after which protein A-Sepharose beads were
DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS until 80 –90% confluency, after
added, and the incubation was continued for an additional hour. The which they were incubated overnight in DMEM containing 0.5% FBS.
beads were pelleted at 10,000 3 g for 5 min, washed three times with Cells were washed with modified Eagle’s medium without phenol red
ice-cold lysis buffer, and subjected to SDS-polyacrylamide gel electro- and treated with EGF (500 ng/ml) for the indicated times. ROS gener-
phoresis on an 8% gel. The separated proteins were transferred to a ation was measured by DCF fluorescence as described under “Experi-
nitrocellulose membrane and probed with antibodies to PLC-g1, to mental Procedures.” Data are representative of three similar experi-
phosphotyrosine, or to EGFR. Immune complexes were detected with ments, in which the relative fluorescence intensity per cell was
appropriate secondary antibodies and ECL reagents. calculated by averaging the values for five groups each containing
Assay of Intracellular ROS—Intracellular ROS production was 20 –30 cells.
measured by the method of Bass et al. (25) as modified for confocal
microscopy by Ohba et al. (4). Briefly, dishes of confluent cells at various
times after stimulation with EGF were washed with modified Eagle’s
medium without phenol red and incubated in the dark for 5 min in
Krebs-Ringer solution containing 5 mM DCFH-DA. DCFH-DA is a non-
polar compound that readily diffuses into cells, where it is hydrolyzed to
the nonfluorescent polar derivative DCFH and thereby trapped within
the cells (25). In the presence of a proper oxidant, DCFH is oxidized to
the highly fluorescent 29,79-dichlorofluorescein (DCF). Culture dishes
were transferred to a Zeiss Axiovert 135 inverted microscope, equipped
with a 320 Neofluor objective and Zeiss LSM 410 confocal attachment,
and ROS generation was detected as a result of the oxidation of DCFH
(excitation, 488 nm; emission, 515–540 nm). The effects of DCFH photo-
oxidation was minimized by collecting the fluorescent image with a
single rapid scan (line average, 4; total scan time, 4.33 s) and identical
parameters, such as contrast and brightness, for all samples. The cells
were then imaged by differential interference contrast microscopy. Five
groups of 20 –30 cells each were randomly selected from the image in
the digital interserence contrast (DIC) channel for each sample, the
fluorescence intensity was then measured for each group from the
fluorescence image, and the relative fluorescence intensity was taken as
FIG. 2. Effect of catalase incorporated into cells by electropo-
the average of the five values. Therefore, the relative fluorescence
ration on EGF-induced ROS generation. A431 cells that had been
intensity (given in arbitrary units) reflects measurements performed on
subjected to electroporation in the absence or the presence of catalase (8
a minimum of 100 cells for each sample. All experiments were repeated mg/ml) were incubated in the absence or the presence of EGF (500
at least three times. ng/ml) for 5 min, after which the generation of ROS was measured.
Data are representative of three similar experiments.
RESULTS
Intracellular generation of ROS in A431 cells was measured mass of ;160 kDa that was recognized by antibody to the
with DCFH-DA and laser-scanning confocal microscopy. Expo- EGFR was particularly prominent. However, in cells contain-
sure of quiescent A431 cells to EGF (500 ng/ml) resulted in a ing exogenous catalase, EGF had no apparent effect on tyrosine
rapid increase in DCF fluorescence, with the maximal, 2-fold phosphorylation of the EGFR or other proteins. Phosphoryla-
increase apparent 5 min after stimulation (Fig. 1); fluorescence tion of PLC-g1, a well characterized target of the EGFR kinase,
had returned to the baseline value after 20 min. was studied further. Immunoblot analysis, with antibodies to
Introduction of catalase, an enzyme that specifically cata- PLC-g1, of PLC-g1 immunoprecipitated from control cells
lyzes the dismutation of H2O2 to O2 and H2O into A431 cells by treated with EGF revealed a broad immunoreactive band (Fig.
electroporation, prevented EGF-induced DCFH oxidation (Fig. 3B); the increased breadth of the band relative to that apparent
2), suggesting that the latter is mainly mediated by H2O2. The with unstimulated cell is indicative of increased tyrosine phos-
amount of catalase incorporated into cells was about five times phorylation (26). The effect of catalase was investigated by
that of the endogenous enzyme (see below). The introduction of subjecting PLC-g1 immunoprecipitated with antibodies to
catalase also reduced DCFH oxidation in cells not exposed to PLC-g1 to immunoblot analysis with antibody to phosphoty-
EGF. rosine (Fig. 3C). Tyrosine phosphorylation of PLC-g1 was ap-
We next assessed the effect of incorporated catalase on EGF- parent from control EGF-treated cells but not with that from
induced tyrosine phosphorylation. EGF induced a rapid in- EGF-treated cells containing exogenous catalase. As demon-
crease in tyrosine phosphorylation of several proteins in control strated previously (26, 27), coprecipitation of autophosphoryl-
cells as revealed by immunoblot analysis of cell lysates with ated EGFR with tyrosine-phosphorylated PLC-g1 was ob-
antibodies to phosphotyrosine (Fig. 3A). Increased tyrosine served. The requirement for H2O2 of the tyrosine
phosphorylation of a broad band with an apparent molecular phosphorylation of PLC-g1 was also demonstrated by precipi-
EGF Receptor-mediated H2O2 Generation 219
that the inhibition of EGF-induced tyrosine phosphorylation in
cells electroporated in the presence of catalase is not attribut-
able to either the reduction in EGFR number, the inhibition of
EGFR kinase by catalase, or the requirement of H2O2 for the
activation of EGFR kinase.
To assess the role of the intrinsic kinase activity and auto-
phosphorylation sites of the EGFR in the EGF-induced gener-
ation of H2O2, we studied cell lines that express either the
wild-type EGFR, a tyrosine kinase-negative EGFR in which
Lys721 is replaced with Met, or a truncated EGFR (CD-126)
lacking the COOH-terminal 126 amino acids (and therefore the
four tyrosine phosphorylation sites at positions 1173, 1148,
1086, and 1068). These cell lines were generated previously by
Margolis et al. (28, 29) by expression of human EGFR cDNAs in
NIH 3T3 cells that lack endogenous EGFR (2.2 cells). Receptor
density was 3 3 105, 3 3 105, 1.5 3 105 receptors/cell, respec-
tively, for cells expressing wild-type, kinase-negative, and CD-
126 mutant EGFR (30, 31). Treatment with EGF increased the
concentration of H2O2 in cells expressing the wild-type or CD-
126 mutant EGFR but not in the cells expressing the catalyt-
ically inactive mutant (Fig. 4). These results suggest that the
intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity, but not the four autophos-
phorylation sites, is essential for the EGF-induced H2O2
generation.

DISCUSSION
Extracellular release of ROS is a well characterized response
of phagocytic cells to a variety of agonists. However, recent
FIG. 3. Effect of exogenous catalase on EGF-induced protein observations indicate that nonphagocytic cells also generate
tyrosine phosphorylation. A431 cells that had been electroporated in ROS (4 –12). To identify the ROS responsible for the intracel-
the absence or the presence of catalase were incubated for 10 min in the lular oxidation of DCFH, Ohba et al. (4) added catalase to the
absence or the presence of EGF (500 ng/ml), after which cell lysates culture medium of osteoblastic cells. The addition of catalase
were prepared. A, lysates were subjected to immunoblot analysis with
antibody to phosphotyrosine. The positions of prestained molecular size completely inhibited the transforming growth factor-b1-in-
markers (in kilodaltons) are indicated on the right and that of the duced increase in DCF fluorescence, suggesting that H2O2 was
EGFR on the left. B and C, lysates were subjected to immunoprecipi- important in DCFH oxidation in response to transforming
tation (IP) with monoclonal antibodies to PLC-g1 (aPLCg1), and the growth factor-b1. Because the cells are not permeable to cata-
immunoprecipitates were subjected to immunoblot analysis with the
same PLC-g1-specific antibodies (B) or with antibodies to phosphoty- lase, the researchers proposed that H2O2 was released into the
rosine (aPY) (C). D, lysates were subjected to immunoprecipitation with medium from the plasma membrane, the site of its production,
antibodies to phosphotyrosine, and the immunoprecipitates were sub- and then diffused into the cells. Whether this diffusion was
jected to immunoblot analysis with antibodies to PLC-g1. E, lysates promoted by the trapped DCFH is not clear. Catalase was also
were subjected to immunoblot analysis with antibodies to catalase. F,
lysates were subjected to immunoblot analysis with antibodies to
used to characterize the ROS generated in PDGF-treated rat
a-tubulin. vascular smooth muscle cells (8). Unlike most other cells, these
muscle cells incorporated, by an unknown mechanism, catalase
tating proteins with antibody to phosphotyrosine and immuno- that was added to the culture medium. Catalase incorporation
blot analysis with antibodies to PLC-g1 (Fig. 3D). completely blocked the PDGF-stimulated increase in H2O2 pro-
Because the exogenous bovine catalase and endogenous hu- duction, suggesting that H2O2 is also the predominant ROS
man catalase can be separated on a SDS-polyacrylamide gel induced by PDGF in these cells.
(Fig. 3E), the amount of exogenous catalase incorporated to We have now shown that EGF induces ROS production in
cells was estimated from immunoblot analysis to be approxi- A431 cells and that the increase in DCF fluorescence was
mately five times the amount of endogenous enzyme. Equal primarily attributable to H2O2 on the basis of its sensitivity to
application of lysate protein among gel lanes for all immuno- catalase introduced into the cells by electroporation. With in-
blot experiments was confirmed by immunoblot analysis with corporation of catalase by electroporation, no ambiguity arises
antibodies to a-tubulin (Fig. 3F). as to whether H2O2 is released first into the medium and is
To test whether the number of EGFR on the cell surface is then taken up by the cells. Unlike rat vascular smooth muscle
affected by electroporation or by the addition of catalase con- cells, the simple addition of catalase to the culture medium did
current with electroporation, we measured the number of not result in uptake of the enzyme and a consequent decrease
EGFR using 125I-EGF. The binding of 125I-EGF was saturable in DCF fluorescence (data not shown). The incorporation of
and inhibited in a concentration-dependent manner by the catalase also reduced DCFH oxidation in A431 cells not ex-
addition of unlabeled EGF (figure not shown). The calculated posed to EGF, indicating that substantial amounts of H2O2 are
binding site densities per cell were 4 3 106, 6 3 106, and 5 3 generated in the absence of EGF, probably as a result of res-
106, respectively, for control cells, electroporated cells assessed piratory activity and the presence of various growth factors in
after 18 h of recovery, and cells electroporated in the presence 1% FBS. Overnight incubation of electroporated cells in me-
of catalase and assessed after 18 h of recovery, suggesting that dium containing 1% FBS was necessary for cells to recover from
receptor number is not affected by the treatments. We also the electroporation procedure and to exhibit a tyrosine phos-
found that the autophosphorylation activity of immunoprecipi- phorylation response to EGF. A high background of DCF fluo-
tated EGFR is not affected by the presence of catalase (8 rescence was apparent even in cells containing exogenous cat-
mg/ml) or H2O2 (1 mM) (data not shown). These results suggest alase. Whether this background DCFH oxidation is caused by
220 EGF Receptor-mediated H2O2 Generation
induced hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate.
Treatment of smooth muscle cells with H2O2 was previously
shown to release Ca21 from intracellular stores that are sen-
sitive to inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (33). We also observed a
rapid increase in intracellular Ca21 following addition of 1 mM
H2O2 to A431 cells in a Ca21-free medium (figure not shown).
These observations are consistent with the notion that H2O2
inhibits PTPases and thereby causes activation (tyrosine phos-
phorylation) of PLC-g1 (see below).
Our study with EGF, together with previous studies with
basic fibroblast growth factor (7, 9) and PDGF (8, 9), suggests
that the generation of H2O2 is a common signaling event for
peptide growth factors. However, the role of H2O2 in growth
factor signaling is not clear. Exogenously added H2O2 was
previously shown to elicit tyrosine phosphorylation in several
cell types (34, 35), whereas inhibition of the PDGF-induced
increase in H2O2 blocked various steps in signaling by this
growth factor, including tyrosine phosphorylation of MAP ki-
nase (8). Furthermore, H2O2 directly inhibits PTPase activity
in vitro, and this inhibition is completely reversed by incuba-
tion with dithiothreitol (21). All PTPases contain one essential
sulfhydryl group at their active site that is susceptible to oxi-
dation because of its unusually low pKa (,5) (36). These obser-
vations suggest that PTPases may be targets of intracellularly
generated H2O2. Inactivation of PTPases would result in in-
creased tyrosine phosphorylation. Furthermore, the specific
activities of PTPases in vitro are 10 –1000 times those of pro-
tein tyrosine kinases (37). Therefore, in most cells, the activa-
tion of a receptor tyrosine kinase by the binding of a growth
factor may not be sufficient to increase the steady-state level
of protein tyrosine phosphorylation; concurrent inhibition of
PTPases might be necessary, and this inhibition may be
achieved through H2O2.
Binding of various peptide growth factors to their cognate
receptors activates multiple signaling pathways, including
those mediated by PLC-g1, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, sig-
nal transducer and activator of transcription protein (STAT),
and MAP kinase (38, 39). The ligand-bound receptors dimerize
and transphosphorylate each other at several tyrosine resi-
dues, thereby creating binding sites for cellular proteins that
contain Src homology 2 (SH2) domains, including PLC-g1,
FIG. 4. Effects of EGF on H2O2 generation in NIH 3T3 2.2 cells
expressing wild-type, kinase-defective, or a COOH-terminal de- GTPase-activating protein of RAS, the 85-kDa subunit of phos-
letion mutant (CD-126) EGFR. A, DCF fluorescence was measured phatidylinositol 3-kinase (p85), and SH2-containing collagen
with a confocal laser-scanning microscope after incubation of NIH 3T3 protein. Studies with autophosphorylation site mutants of the
2.2 cells expressing wild-type, kinase-defective, or CD-126 mutant receptors for PDGF (40), colony-stimulating factor (41), fibro-
EGFR in the presence of EGF (500 ng/ml) for 5 min; Control represents
cells expressing wild-type EGFR incubated in the absence of EGF. Cells blast growth factor (42), and nerve growth factor (43) have
expressing mutant receptors yielded similar basal DCF fluorescence in shown that elimination of specific individual sites selectively
the absence of EGF. B, from the images shown in A, relative fluores- abrogates the association of one or two SH2-containing pro-
cence intensity per cell was calculated by averaging the values for five
groups each containing 20 –30 cells. Data are representative of three
teins with the receptors, suggesting that individual autophos-
similar experiments. phorylation sites mediate the binding of specific SH2-contain-
ing protein. However, the association of PLC-g1, GTPase-
residual H2O2 not degraded by catalase, by cellular oxidants activating protein, p85, or SH2-containing collagen protein
other than H2O2, or by oxidants introduced by the experimen- with the EGFR, which contains five autophosphorylation sites
tal procedure (for example, by photo-oxidation) is not clear. (residues 992, 1068, 1086, 1148, and 1173) in the COOH-ter-
Therefore, we took great care to manipulate the cells under minal region, does not appear to stringently require individual
identical conditions, with the exception of the indicated autophosphorylation sites, but decreases gradually as the sites
additions. are removed one by one by COOH-terminal truncation (44).
The EGF-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of various cellu- The intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity and autophosphoryla-
lar proteins was completely blocked in A431 cells containing tion sites of the EGFR are not required for all signaling path-
exogenous catalase. Furthermore, detailed experiments with ways activated by EGF. The activation of MAP kinase can
PLC-g1 indicated that its tyrosine phosphorylation in response occur independently of EGFR kinase activity (45, 46), and the
to EGF requires the EGF-induced increase in H2O2 concentra- activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription
tion. Because tyrosine phosphorylation is essential for the ac- proteins requires none of the autophosphorylation sites (47).
tivation of PLC-g1 in growth factor-treated cells (32), an in- Our data with the kinase-inactive mutant indicate that EGFR-
crease in H2O2 would appear to be required for growth factor- dependent H2O2 generation requires the intrinsic kinase activ-
EGF Receptor-mediated H2O2 Generation 221
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