The Ras/Raf-1/MEK1/ERK signaling pathway coupled to integrin expression mediates cholinerqic regulation of keratinocyte directional migration

Abstract

The physiologic mechanisms that determine directionality of lateral migration are a subject of intense research. Galvanotropism in a direct current (DC) electric field represents a natural model of cell re-orientation toward the direction of future migration. Keratinocyte migration is regulated through both the nicotinic and muscarinic classes of acetylcholine (ACh) receptors. We sought to identify the signaling pathway mediating the cholinergic regulation of chemotaxis and galvanotropism. The pharmacologic and molecular modifiers of the Ras/Raf-1/MEK1/ERK signaling pathway altered both chemotaxis toward choline and galvanotropism toward the cathode in a similar way, indicating that the same signaling steps were involved. The galvanotropism was abrogated due to inhibition of ACh production by hemicholinium-3 and restored by exogenously added carbachol. The concentration gradients of ACh and choline toward the cathode in a DC field were established by high-performance liquid chromatographic measurements. This suggested that keratinocyte galvanotaxis is, in effect, chemotaxis toward the concentration gradient of ACh, which it creates in a DC field due to its highly positive charge. A time-course immunofluorescence study of the membrane redistribution of ACh receptors in keratinocytes exposed to a DC field revealed rapid relocation to and clustering at the leading edge of a7 nicotinic and M1 muscarinic receptors. Their inactivation with selective antagonists or small interfering RNAs inhibited galvanotropism, which could be prevented by transfecting the cells with constitutively active MEK1. The end-point effect of the cooperative signaling downstream from α7 and M1 through the MEK1/ERK was an up-regulated expression of α2 and α3 integrins, as judged from the results of real-time PCR and quantitative immunoblotting. Thus, α7 works together with M1 to orient a keratinocyte toward direction of its future migration. Both α7 and M 1 apparently engage the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK pathway to up-regulate expression of the "sedentary" integrins required for stabilization of the lamellipodium at the keratinocyte leading edge. © 2005 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.