Phosphorylation fails to activate chloride channels from cystic fibrosis airway cells

Chloride impermeability of epithelial cells can account for many of the experimental and clinical manifestations of cystic fibrosis (CF). Activation of apical-membrane Cl- channels by cyclic AMP-mediated stimuli is defective in CF airway epithelial cells, despite normal agonist-induced increases in cellular cAMP levels. This defect in Cl- channel regulation has been localized to the apical membrane by exposing the cytoplasmic surface of excised membrane patches to the catalytic subunit (C subunit) of cAMP-dependent protein kinase and ATP. In membranes from normal cells, C-subunit activated Cl- channels with properties identical to those stimulated by cAMP-dependent agonists during cell-attached recording. Activation by the C subunit was not observed in CF membranes, but the presence of Cl- channels was verified by voltage-induced activation. The failure of the C subunit to activate the Cl- channels of CF membranes indicates that the block in their cAMP-mediated activation lies distal to induction of cAMP-dependent protein kinase activity and focuses our attention on the Cl- channel and its membrane-associated regulatory proteins as the probable site of the CF defect.     

Chloride and potassium channels in cystic fibrosis airway epithelia

Cystic fibrosis, the most common lethal genetic disease in Caucasians, is characterized by a decreased permeability in sweat gland duct and airway epithelia. In sweat duct epithelium, a decreased Cl- permeability accounts for the abnormally increased salt content of sweat. In airway epithelia a decreased Cl- permeability, and possibly increased sodium absorption, may account for the abnormal respiratory tract fluid. The Cl- impermeability has been localized to the apical membrane of cystic fibrosis airway epithelial cells. The finding that hormonally regulated Cl- channels make the apical membrane Cl- permeable in normal airway epithelial cells suggested abnormal Cl- channel function in cystic fibrosis. Here we report that excised, cell-free patches of membrane from cystic fibrosis epithelial cells contain Cl- channels that have the same conductive properties as Cl- channels from normal cells. However, Cl- channels from cystic fibrosis cells did not open when they were attached to the cell. These findings suggest defective regulation of Cl- channels in cystic fibrosis epithelia; to begin to address this issue, we performed two studies. First, we found that isoprenaline, which stimulates Cl- secretion, increases cellular levels of cyclic AMP in a similar manner in cystic fibrosis and non-cystic fibrosis epithelial cells. Second, we show that adrenergic agonists open calcium-activated potassium channels, indirectly suggesting that calcium-dependent stimulus-response coupling is intact in cystic fibrosis. These data suggest defective regulation of Cl- channels at a site distal to cAMP accumulation.     

Defective regulation of outwardly rectifying Cl- channels by protein kinase A corrected by insertion of CFTR.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a lethal genetic disease resulting in a reduced Cl- permeability, increased mucous sulphation, increased Na+ absorption and defective acidification of lysosomal vesicles. The CF gene encodes a protein (the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, CFTR) that can function as a low-conductance Cl- channel with a linear current-voltage relationship whose regulation is defective in CF patients. Larger conductance, outwardly rectifying Cl- channels are also defective in CF and fail to activate when exposed either to cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase A or to protein kinase C. The role of the outwardly rectifying Cl- channel in CF has been questioned. We report here that expression of recombinant CF genes using adeno-associated virus vectors in CF bronchial epithelial cells corrects defective Cl- secretion, that it induces the appearance of small, linear conductance Cl- channels, and restores protein kinase A activation of outwardly rectifying Cl- channels. These results re-establish an involvement of outwardly rectifying Cl- channels in CF and suggest that CFTR regulates more than one conductance pathway in airway tissues.     

Activation of chloride channels in normal and cystic fibrosis airway epithelial cells by multifunctional calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase.

Cystic fibrosis is associated with defective regulation of apical membrane chloride channels in airway epithelial cells. These channels in normal cells are activated by cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase and protein kinase C. In cystic fibrosis these kinases fail to activate otherwise normal Cl- channels. But Cl- flux in cystic fibrosis cells, as in normal cells, can be activated by raising intracellular Ca2+ (refs 5-10). We report here whole-cell patch clamp studies of normal and cystic fibrosis-derived airway epithelial cells showing that Cl- channel activation by Ca2+ is mediated by multifunctional Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase. We find that intracellular application of activated kinase and ATP activates a Cl- current similar to that activated by a Ca2+ ionophore, that peptide inhibitors of either the kinase or calmodulin block Ca2(+)-dependent activation of Cl- channels, and that a peptide inhibitor of protein kinase C does not block Ca2(+)-dependent activation. Ca2+/calmodulin activation of Cl- channels presents a pathway with therapeutic potential for circumventing defective regulation of Cl- channels in cystic fibrosis.     

Expression and characterization of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a common lethal genetic disease that manifests itself in airway and other epithelial cells as defective chloride ion absorption and secretion, resulting at least in part from a defect in a cyclic AMP-regulated, outwardly-rectifying Cl- channel in the apical surface. The gene responsible for CF has been identified and predicted to encode a membrane protein termed the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). Identification of a cryptic bacterial promoter within the CFTR coding sequence led us to construct a complementary DNA in a low-copy-number plasmid, thereby avoiding the deleterious effects of CFTR expression on Escherischia coli. We have used this cDNA to express CFTR in vitro and in vivo. Here we demonstrate that CFTR is a membrane-associated glycoprotein that can be phosporylated in vitro by cAMP-dependent protein kinase. Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies directed against distinct domains of the protein immunoprecipitated recombinant CFTR as well as the endogenous CFTR in nonrecombinant T84 cells. Partial proteolysis fingerprinting showed that the recombinant and non-recombinant proteins are indistinguishable. These data, which establish several characteristics of the protein responsible for CF, will now enable CFTR function to be studied and will provide a basis for diagnosis and therapy.     

Chloride conductance regulated by cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase in cardiac myocytes

In heart cells, cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) regulates calcium- and potassium-ion current by phosphorylating the ion channels or closely associated regulatory proteins. We report here that isoprenaline induced large chloride-ion currents in voltage-clamped, internally-dialysed myocytes from guinea-pig ventricles. The Cl- current could be activated by intracellular dialysis with cAMP or the catalytic subunit of PKA, indicating regulation by phosphorylation. In approximately symmetrical solutions of high Cl- concentration, the macroscopic cardiac Cl- current showed little rectification, unlike the single-channel current in PKA-regulated Cl- channels of airway epithelial cells. But, like epithelial Cl- -channel currents, the cardiac Cl- current was sensitive to the distilbene,4,4'-dinitrostilbene-2,2'-disulphonic acid (DNDS). In the absence of kinase activation, cardiac sarcolemmal Cl- conductance was negligible. During beta-adrenergic stimulation of the heart, this novel Cl- conductance should accelerate action-potential repolarization and so protect impulse propagation in the face of the possibly arrhythmogenic increases in heart rate and in calcium entry into the cells.     

Phosphorylation-regulated Cl- channel in CHO cells stably expressing the cystic fibrosis gene.

A cyclic AMP-stimulated chloride conductance appears when the cystic fibrosis gene is expressed in non-epithelial cells by infection with recombinant viruses. Cyclic AMP-stimulated conductance in this system is mediated by the same ohmic, low-conductance Cl- channel as in human secretory epithelia, but control of this channel by phosphorylation has not been directly demonstrated. Here we report the appearance of the low-conductance Cl- channel in Chinese hamster ovary cells after stable transfection with the cystic fibrosis gene. The channel is regulated on-cell by membrane-permeant analogues of cAMP and off-cell by protein kinases A and C and by alkaline phosphatase. These results are further evidence that the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator is a Cl- channel which can be activated by specific phosphorylation events and inactivated by dephosphorylation; they reveal an unsuspected synergism between converging kinase regulatory pathways.     

Aberrant CFTR-dependent HCO3- transport in mutations associated with cystic fibrosis

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a disease caused by mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). Initially, Cl- conductance in the sweat duct was discovered to be impaired in CF, a finding that has been extended to all CFTR-expressing cells. Subsequent cloning of the gene showed that CFTR functions as a cyclic-AMP-regulated Cl- channel; and some CF-causing mutations inhibit CFTR Cl- channel activity. The identification of additional CF-causing mutants with normal Cl- channel activity indicates, however, that other CFTR-dependent processes contribute to the disease. Indeed, CFTR regulates other transporters, including Cl(-)-coupled HCO3- transport. Alkaline fluids are secreted by normal tissues, whereas acidic fluids are secreted by mutant CFTR-expressing tissues, indicating the importance of this activity. HCO3- and pH affect mucin viscosity and bacterial binding. We have examined Cl(-)-coupled HCO3- transport by CFTR mutants that retain substantial or normal Cl- channel activity. Here we show that mutants reported to be associated with CF with pancreatic insufficiency do not support HCO3- transport, and those associated with pancreatic sufficiency show reduced HCO3- transport. Our findings demonstrate the importance of HCO3- transport in the function of secretory epithelia and in CF.     

Anion channels activated by adrenaline in cardiac myocytes

In heart cells, the catecholamine-activated cyclic AMP system regulates calcium and potassium channels. We report here a novel class of chloride channels that can be activated by adrenaline in mammalian ventricular cells. Like the agonist-activated Cl- channel currents of airway and colonic epithelial cells, the cardiac Cl(-)-channel current shows outward rectification. But the unit conductance of cardiac Cl- channels is smaller than that of epithelial Cl- channels. The cardiac Cl- channel is functionally voltage-independent, in contrast to the Cl- channel in colonic epithelial cells. This channel could be responsible for the beta-catecholamine-induced increase in cardiac membrane conductance that has been attributed to activation of a Cl- current. Thus, sympathetic control of cardiac electrical activity involves not only the voltage-dependent, excitation-related cation channels, but also anion channels that generate a steady current.     

Regulation of Ca2+-dependent K+-channel activity in tracheal myocytes by phosphorylation

Isoprenaline is a beta-adrenergic agonist of clinical importance as a remedy for asthma. In airway smooth muscle its relaxant action is accompanied by hyperpolarization of the membrane and elevation of the level of intracellular cyclic AMP. Hyperpolarization and relaxation are also induced by drugs such as forskolin, theophylline and dibutyryl cAMP, indicating that cAMP-dependent phosphorylation is involved in producing the electrical response. Cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase (protein kinase A) has been reported to activate Ca2+-dependent K+ channels in cultured aortic smooth muscle cells and snail neurons. The membrane of tracheal smooth-muscle cells is characterized by a dense distribution of Ca2+-dependent K+-channels. We have now examined the effect of isoprenaline and protein kinase A on Ca2+-dependent K+-channels in isolated smooth muscle cells of rabbit trachea, using the patch-clamp technique. Our results show that the open-state probability of Ca2+-dependent K+-channel of tracheal myocytes is reversibly increased by either extracellular application of isoprenaline or intracellar application of protein kinase A. We also show that this effect is significantly enhanced and prolonged in the presence of a potent protein phosphatase inhibitor, okadaic acid.     

Transduction in taste receptor cells requires cAMP-dependent protein kinase

In taste chemoreception, cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) appears to be one of the intracellular messengers coupling reception of stimulus to the generation of the response. The recent finding that sweet agents cause a GTP-dependent generation of cAMP poses the question of how this cytosolic messenger acts at the membrane of taste receptor cells. We have shown that cAMP causes a substantial depolarization in these cells. Here we show with whole-cell recordings and inside-out membrane patches that the depolarization caused by cAMP is accounted for by the action of cAMP-dependent protein kinase, which inactivates potassium channels predominantly of 44 pS conductance. Thus, intracellular signalling of the gustatory cells differs from that of olfactory and photoreceptor cells, where cyclic nucleotides control unspecific channels by binding to them rather than by inducing their phosphorylation.     

Processing of mutant cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator is temperature-sensitive.

Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is a plasma membrane Cl- channel regulated by cyclic AMP-dependent phosphorylation and by intracellular ATP. Mutations in CFTR cause cystic fibrosis partly through loss of cAMP-regulated Cl- permeability from the plasma membrane of affected epithelia. The most common mutation in cystic fibrosis is deletion of phenylalanine at residue 508 (CFTR delta F508) (ref. 10). Studies on the biosynthesis and localization of CFTR delta F508 indicate that the mutant protein is not processed correctly and, as a result, is not delivered to the plasma membrane. These conclusions are consistent with earlier functional studies which failed to detect cAMP-stimulated Cl- channels in cells expressing CFTR delta F508 (refs 16, 17). Chloride channel activity was detected, however, when CFTR delta F508 was expressed in Xenopus oocytes, Vero cells and Sf9 insect cells. Because oocytes and Sf9 cells are typically maintained at lower temperatures than mammalian cells, and because processing of nascent proteins can be sensitive to temperature, we tested the effect of temperature on the processing of CFTR delta F508. Here we show that the processing of CFTR delta F508 reverts towards that of wild-type as the incubation temperature is reduced. When the processing defect is corrected, cAMP-regulated Cl- channels appear in the plasma membrane. These results reconcile previous contradictory observations and suggest that the mutant most commonly associated with cystic fibrosis is temperature-sensitive.     

Fluorescence ratio imaging of cyclic AMP in single cells.

Fluorescence imaging is perhaps the most powerful technique currently available for continuously observing the dynamic intracellular biochemistry of single living cells. However, fluorescent indicator dyes have been available only for simple inorganic ions such as Ca2+, H+, Na+, K+, Mg2+ and Cl-. We now report a fluorescent indicator for the adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) signalling pathway. The sensor consists of cAMP-dependent protein kinase in which the catalytic (C) and regulatory (R) subunits are each labelled with a different fluorescent dye such as fluorescein or rhodamine capable of fluorescence resonance energy transfer in the holoenzyme complex R2C2. When cAMP molecules bind to the R subunits, the C subunits dissociate, thereby eliminating energy transfer. The change in shape of the fluorescence emission spectrum allows cAMP concentrations and the activation of the kinase to be nondestructively visualized in single living cells microinjected with the labelled holoenzyme.     

Modulation of single Ca2+-dependent K+-channel activity by protein phosphorylation

There is considerable evidence that cyclic AMP can modulate the electrical activity of excitable cells and that protein phosphorylation by the catalytic subunit (CS) of cAMP-dependent protein kinase is a necessary step in these modulatory effects. In analogy to alterations in enzyme activities following phosphorylation, it seems possible that direct phosphorylation of ion-channel proteins may alter their gating properties, giving rise to the observe changes in electrical activity. However, the results obtained so far do not indicate whether it is ion channels themselves that are phosphorylated, or whether phosphorylation is simply an early step in some cascade of events which leads ultimately to modulation of channel activity. The development of single-channel recording techniques has provided a way to investigate this question. Here we describe effects of CS on the activity of individual CA2+-dependent K+ channels from the nervous system of the land snail Helix measured in isolated membrane patches and in artificial phospholipid bilayers. The results demonstrate that cAMP-dependent protein phosphorylation produces long-lasting changes in the activity of individual channels, and indicate that the relevant phosphorylation site is closely associated with the channel.     

Mediation of cell volume regulation by Ca2+ influx through stretch-activated channels

Animal cells initially swell in hypotonic media by osmotic water equilibration, but their volume is subsequently regulated by a net loss of KCl and amino acids with concomitant loss of cell water. Mechanisms for regulating cell volume are important in allowing cells to adapt to variations in external tonicity and metabolic load. In red cells the KCl loss is mediated by electroneutral ion transport mechanisms. In contrast, conductive K+ and Cl- transport pathways are activated during regulatory volume decrease in several cell types including epithelia. The activation seems to be mediated by internal Ca2+, but the detailed mechanism is not known. In a leaky epithelium, the choroid plexus epithelium, we have found a cation-selective, Ca2+-permeable channel which opens with membrane stretch. The epithelium also contains a high density of the large (approximately 200 pS) type of Ca2+- voltage-activated K+ channel. Both channels are normally closed. I propose that in hypotonic media, the stretching of the cell membrane produced by the initial swelling causes influx of Ca2+ through the stretch-activated channels, which activates the neighbouring large K+ channels to produce increased K+ outflux with associated loss of cell water.     

The protein kinase A-regulated cardiac Cl- channel resembles the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator.

Stimulation of beta-adrenoceptors in cardiac ventricular myocytes activates a strong chloride ion conductance as a result of phosphorylation by cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA). This Cl- conductance, which is time- and voltage-independent, counters the tendency of the simultaneously enhanced Ca2+ channel current to prolong the ventricular action potential. Using inside-out giant patches excised from guinea-pig myocytes, we show here that phosphorylation by the PKA catalytic subunit plus Mg-ATP elicits discrete Cl- channel currents. In almost symmetrical Cl- solutions (approximately 150 mM), unitary current amplitude scales with membrane potential, and reverses sign near 0 mV, to yield a single channel conductance of approximately 12 pS. Opening of the phosphorylated channels requires hydrolysable nucleoside triphosphate, indicating that phosphorylation by PKA is necessary, but not sufficient, for channel activation. The properties of these PKA-regulated cardiac Cl- channels are very similar, if not identical, to those of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), the epithelial cell Cl- channel whose regulation is defective in patients with cystic fibrosis. The full cardiological impact of these Cl- channels and of their possible malfunction in patients with cystic fibrosis remains to be determined.     

Calcium entry through stretch-inactivated ion channels in mdx myotubes.

Recent advances in understanding the molecular basis of human X-linked muscular dystrophies have come from the identification of dystrophin, a cytoskeletal protein associated with the surface membrane. Although there is little or virtually no dystrophin in affected individuals, it is not known how this causes muscle degeneration. One possibility is that the membrane of dystrophic muscle is weakened and becomes leaky to Ca2+. In muscle from mdx mice, an animal model of the human disease, intracellular Ca2+ is elevated and associated with a high rate of protein degradation. The possibility that a lack of dystrophin alters the resting permeability of skeletal muscle to Ca2+ prompted us to compare Ca2(+)-permeable ionic channels in muscle cells from normal and mdx mice. We now show that recordings of single-channel activity from mdx myotubes are dominated by the presence of Ca2(+)-permeable mechano-transducing ion channels. Like similar channels in normal skeletal muscle, they are rarely open at rest, but open when the membrane is stretched by applying suction to the electrode. Other channels in mdx myotubes, however, are often open for extended periods of time at rest and close when suction is applied to the electrode. The results show a novel type of mechano-transducing ion channel in mdx myotubes that could provide a pathway for Ca2+ to leak into the cell.     

Volume-regulated chloride channels associated with the human multidrug-resistance P-glycoprotein.

Expression of P-glycoprotein, the product of the MDR1 gene, confers multidrug resistance on cell lines and human tumours (reviewed in refs 1,2). P-glycoprotein (relative molecular mass 170,000) is an ATP-dependent, active transporter which pumps hydrophobic drugs out of cells, but its normal physiological role is unknown. It is a member of the ABC (ATP-binding cassette) superfamily of transporters, which includes many bacterial transport systems, the putative peptide transporter from the major histocompatibility locus, and the product of the cystic fibrosis gene (the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator, CFTR). CFTR is located in the apical membranes of many secretory epithelia and is associated with a cyclic AMP-regulated chloride channel. At least two other chloride channels are present in epithelial cells, regulated by cell volume and by intracellular Ca2+, respectively. Because of the structural and sequence similarities between P-glycoprotein and CFTR, and because P-glycoprotein is abundant in many secretory epithelia, we examined whether P-glycoprotein might be associated with one or other of these channels. We report here that expression of P-glycoprotein generates volume-regulated, ATP-dependent, chloride-selective channels, with properties similar to channels characterized previously in epithelial cells.     

Somatostatin stimulates Ca(2+)-activated K+ channels through protein dephosphorylation.

The neuropeptide somatostatin inhibits secretion from electrically excitable cells in the pituitary, pancreas, gut and brain. In mammalian pituitary tumour cells somatostatin inhibits secretion through two distinct pertussis toxin-sensitive mechanisms. One involves inhibition of adenylyl cyclase, the other an unidentified cyclic AMP-independent mechanism that reduces Ca2+ influx by increasing membrane conductance to potassium. Here we demonstrate that the predominant electrophysiological effect of somatostatin on metabolically intact pituitary tumour cells is a large, sustained increase in the activity of the large-conductance Ca(2+)- and voltage-activated K+ channels (BK). This action of somatostatin does not involve direct effects of Ca2+, cAMP or G proteins on the channels. Our results indicate instead that somatostatin stimulates BK channel activity through protein dephosphorylation.