Endocytic Adaptor Protein Tollip Inhibits Canonical Wnt Signaling

PLoS One. 2015 Jun 25;10(6):e0130818. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130818. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Many adaptor proteins involved in endocytic cargo transport exhibit additional functions in other cellular processes which may be either related to or independent from their trafficking roles. The endosomal adaptor protein Tollip is an example of such a multitasking regulator, as it participates in trafficking and endosomal sorting of receptors, but also in interleukin/Toll/NF-κB signaling, bacterial entry, autophagic clearance of protein aggregates and regulation of sumoylation. Here we describe another role of Tollip in intracellular signaling. By performing a targeted RNAi screen of soluble endocytic proteins for their additional functions in canonical Wnt signaling, we identified Tollip as a potential negative regulator of this pathway in human cells. Depletion of Tollip potentiates the activity of β-catenin/TCF-dependent transcriptional reporter, while its overproduction inhibits the reporter activity and expression of Wnt target genes. These effects are independent of dynamin-mediated endocytosis, but require the ubiquitin-binding CUE domain of Tollip. In Wnt-stimulated cells, Tollip counteracts the activation of β-catenin and its nuclear accumulation, without affecting its total levels. Additionally, under conditions of ligand-independent signaling, Tollip inhibits the pathway after the stage of β-catenin stabilization, as observed in human cancer cell lines, characterized by constitutive β-catenin activity. Finally, the regulation of Wnt signaling by Tollip occurs also during early embryonic development of zebrafish. In summary, our data identify a novel function of Tollip in regulating the canonical Wnt pathway which is evolutionarily conserved between fish and humans. Tollip-mediated inhibition of Wnt signaling may contribute not only to embryonic development, but also to carcinogenesis. Mechanistically, Tollip can potentially coordinate multiple cellular pathways of trafficking and signaling, possibly by exploiting its ability to interact with ubiquitin and the sumoylation machinery.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Carcinogenesis / genetics
  • Embryonic Development / genetics
  • HEK293 Cells
  • Humans
  • Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / genetics
  • Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / metabolism*
  • Protein Transport / physiology
  • Wnt Signaling Pathway / genetics*
  • Zebrafish
  • beta Catenin / metabolism

Substances

  • Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins
  • TOLLIP protein, human
  • beta Catenin

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grant number N N301 296437 and a MAESTRO Grant (UMO-2011/02/A/NZ3/00149) from the National Science Center to M. Miaczynska (www.ncn.gov.pl). AT received a short-term EMBO fellowship (www.embo.org). ES was supported by the Parent-Bridge Program of Foundation for Polish Science, co-financed from the EU under the European Regional Development Fund (POMOST/2011-3/11; www.fnp.org.pl); LWN and AB by the EU FP7 Grant FishMed GA No. 316125 (http://fishmed.iimcb.gov.pl). KJ was supported by the Foundation for Polish Science within the International PhD Project 'Studies of nucleic acids and proteins - from basic to applied research', co-financed from the European Union - Regional Development Fund. Work in the lab of MGG was supported by the Departement d’Instruction Publique of the Canton of Geneva (www.ge.ch/dip), SNSF (www.snf.ch/en/Pages/default.aspx), the SystemsX epiPhysX grant (www.systemsx.ch), ERC advanced grants (Sara and Morphogen; http://erc.europa.eu), the NCCR Frontiers in Genetics and Chemical Biology programs (www.snf.ch/en/funding/programmes/national-centres-of-competence-in-research-nccr/Pages/default.aspx) and a grant from Switzerland through the Swiss Contribution to the Enlarged European Union (Polish-Swiss Research Programme project PSPB-094/2010; www.swiss.opi.org.pl). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.