A Critical Role of Tropomyosins in TGF-β Regulation of the Actin Cytoskeleton and Cell Motility in Epithelial Cells

Abstract

We have investigated transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β)–mediated induction of actin stress fibers in normal and metastatic epithelial cells. We found that stress fiber formation requires de novo protein synthesis, p38Mapk and Smad signaling. We show that TGF-β via Smad and p38Mapk up-regulates expression of actin-binding proteins including high-molecular-weight tropomyosins, α-actinin and calponin h2. We demonstrate that, among these proteins, tropomyosins are both necessary and sufficient for TGF-β induction of stress fibers. Silencing of tropomyosins with short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) blocks stress fiber assembly, whereas ectopic expression of tropomyosins results in stress fibers. Ectopic-expression and siRNA experiments show that Smads mediate induction of tropomyosins and stress fibers. Interestingly, TGF-β induction of stress fibers was not accompanied by changes in the levels of cofilin phosphorylation. TGF-β induction of tropomyosins and stress fibers are significantly inhibited by Ras-ERK signaling in metastatic breast cancer cells. Inhibition of the Ras-ERK pathway restores TGF-β induction of tropomyosins and stress fibers and thereby reduces cell motility. These results suggest that induction of tropomyosins and stress fibers play an essential role in TGF-β control of cell motility, and the loss of this TGF-β response is a critical step in the acquisition of metastatic phenotype by tumor cells.