Diphtheria Toxin Receptor Deficient in Epidermal Growth Factor-Like Biological Activity

• Published in: Journal of biochemistry (Tokyo) 2006-12, Vol.140 (6), p.831-841
• Main Authors: Furukawa, Norihisa, Saito, Michiko, Hakoshima, Toshio, Kohno, Kenji
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate; a disintegrin and metalloprotease; ADAM; Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; cell ablation; diphtheria toxin; diphtheria toxin receptor; DNA Mutational Analysis; Epidermal Growth Factor - chemistry; Epidermal Growth Factor - genetics; Epidermal Growth Factor - physiology; growth factor; haemagglutinin; HB-EGF; Heparin-binding EGF-like Growth Factor; heparin-binding epidermal growth factor–like growth factor; human; IL-3; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; interleukin-3; internal ribosomal entry site; IRES; Mice; mouse; NIH 3T3 Cells; Receptors, Cell Surface - chemistry; Receptors, Cell Surface - genetics; Receptors, Cell Surface - physiology; Retroviridae Infections - metabolism; site-directed mutagenesis; toxin receptor–mediated cell knockout; TPA; TRECK
• ISSN: 0021-924X; 1756-2651
• DOI: 10.1093/jb/mvj216

Targeted cell ablation in animals is a powerful method for analyzing the physiological function of cell populations and generating various animal models of organ dysfunction. To achieve more specific and conditional ablation of target cells, we have developed a method termed Toxin Receptor mediated Cell Knockout (TRECK). A potential shortcoming of this method, however, is that overexpression of human heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor (hHB-EGF) as a diphtheria toxin (DT) receptor in target cells or tissues may cause abnormalities in transgenic mice, since hHB-EGF is a member of the EGF growth factor family. To create novel DT receptors that are defective in growth factor activity and resistant to metalloprotease-cleavage, we mutated five amino acids in the extracellular EGF-like domain of hHB-EGF, which contains both DT-binding and protease-cleavage sites. Two of the resultant hHB-EGF mutants, I117A/L148V and I117V/L148V, possessed little growth factor activity but retained DT receptor activity. Furthermore, these mutants were resistant to metalloprotease-cleavage by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate stimulation, which is expected to enhance DT receptor activity. These novel DT receptors should be useful for the generation of transgenic mice by TRECK.