Frs2α is essential for the fibroblast growth factor to regulate the mTOR pathway and autophagy in mouse embryonic fibroblasts

Xiang Lin, Yongyou Zhang, Leyuan Liu, Wallace L. McKeehan, Yuemao Shen, Siyang Song, Fen Wang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

Although the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling axis plays important roles in cell survival, proliferation, and differentiation, the molecular mechanism underlying how the FGF elicits these diverse regulatory signals is not well understood. By using the Frs2α null mouse em-bryonic fibroblast (MEF) in conjunction with inhibitors to multiple signaling pathways, here we report that the FGF signaling axis activates mTOR via the FGF receptor substrate 2α (FRSα)-mediated PI3K/Akt pathway, and suppresses autophagy activity in MEFs. In addition, the PI3K/Akt pathway regulated mTOR is crucial for the FGF signaling axis to suppress au-tophagy in MEFs. Since autophagy has been proposed to play important roles in cell survival, proliferation, and differentiation, the findings suggest a novel mechanism for the FGF signaling axis to transmit regulatory signals to downstream effectors.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1114-1121
Number of pages8
JournalInternational Journal of Biological Sciences
Volume7
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 2011

Keywords

  • Autophagy
  • Cell signaling
  • FGF
  • Mouse embryonic fibroblast
  • Receptor tyrosine kinase

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Developmental Biology
  • Cell Biology

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