The actin depolymerizing factor (ADF)/cofilin signaling pathway and DNA damage responses in cancer

The actin depolymerizing factor (ADF)/cofilin protein family is essential for actin dynamics, cell division, chemotaxis and tumor metastasis. Cofilin-1 (CFL-1) is a primary non-muscle isoform of the ADF/cofilin protein family accelerating the actin filamental turnover in vitro and in vivo. In response to environmental stimulation, CFL-1 enters the nucleus to regulate the actin dynamics. Although the purpose of this cytoplasm-nucleus transition remains unclear, it is speculated that the interaction between CFL-1 and DNA may influence various biological responses, including DNA damage repair. In this review, we will discuss the possible involvement of CFL-1 in DNA damage responses (DDR) induced by ionizing radiation (IR), and the implications for cancer radiotherapy.

ADF/cofilin-mediated actin dynamics regulate AMPA receptor trafficking during synaptic plasticity

Dendritic spines undergo actin-based growth and shrinkage during synaptic plasticity, in which the actin depolymerizing factor (ADF)/cofilin family of actin-associated proteins are important. Elevated ADF/cofilin activities often lead to reduced spine size and immature spine morphology but can also enhance synaptic potentiation in some cases. Thus, ADF/cofilin may have distinct effects on postsynaptic structure and function. We found that ADF/cofilin-mediated actin dynamics regulated AMPA receptor (AMPAR) trafficking during synaptic potentiation, which was distinct from actin's structural role in spine morphology. Specifically, elevated ADF/cofilin activity markedly enhanced surface addition of AMPARs after chemically induced long-term potentiation (LTP), whereas inhibition of ADF/cofilin abolished AMPAR addition. We found that chemically induced LTP elicited a temporal sequence of ADF/cofilin dephosphorylation and phosphorylation that underlies AMPAR trafficking and spine enlargement. These findings suggest that temporally regulated ADF/cofilin activities function in postsynaptic modifications of receptor number and spine size during synaptic plasticity.

Actin dynamics in platelets

The human blood platelet circulates in the blood as a non-adherent disk. Upon receiving signals of blood vessel damage, the platelet reorganizes its actin cytoskeleton which transforms it into a spiky dynamic adherent glue. This transformation involves a temporal sequence of four morphologically distinct steps which is reproducible in vitro. The actin dynamics underlying these shape changes depend on a large number of actin-binding proteins. Maintenance of the discoid shape requires actin-binding proteins that inhibit these reorganizations, whereas transformation involves other proteins, some to disassemble old filaments and others to polymerize new ones. F-Actin-affinity chromatography identified a large set of actin-binding proteins including VASP, Arp2 and 2E4/kaptin. Recent discoveries show that VASP inhibits filament disassembly and Arp2/3 is required to polymerize new filaments. Morphological analysis of the distribution of these actin-binding proteins in spread platelets together with biochemical measurements of their interactions with actin lead to a model of interactions with actin that mediate shape change.

The Caenorhabditis elegans unc-78 gene encodes a homologue of actin-interacting protein 1 required for organized assembly of muscle actin filaments

Assembly and maintenance of myofibrils require dynamic regulation of the actin cytoskeleton. In Caenorhabditis elegans, UNC-60B, a muscle-specific actin depolymerizing factor (ADF)/cofilin isoform, is required for proper actin filament assembly in body wall muscle (Ono, S., D.L. Baillie, and G.M. Benian. 1999. J. Cell Biol. 145:491--502). Here, I show that UNC-78 is a homologue of actin-interacting protein 1 (AIP1) and functions as a novel regulator of actin organization in myofibrils. In unc-78 mutants, the striated organization of actin filaments is disrupted, and large actin aggregates are formed in the body wall muscle cells, resulting in defects in their motility. Point mutations in unc-78 alleles change conserved residues within different WD repeats of the UNC-78 protein and cause less severe phenotypes than a deletion allele, suggesting that these mutations partially impair the function of UNC-78. UNC-60B is normally localized in the diffuse cytoplasm and to the myofibrils in wild type but mislocalized to the actin aggregates in unc-78 mutants. Similar Unc-78 phenotypes are observed in both embryonic and adult muscles. Thus, AIP1 is an important regulator of actin filament organization and localization of ADF/cofilin during development of myofibrils.

Phosphorylation of ADF/cofilin abolishes EGF-induced actin nucleation at the leading edge and subsequent lamellipod extension

In metastatic rat mammary adenocarcinoma cells, cell motility can be induced by epidermal growth factor. One of the early events in this process is the massive generation of actin barbed ends, which elongate to form filaments immediately adjacent to the plasma membrane at the tip of the leading edge. As a result, the membrane moves outward and forms a protrusion. To test the involvement of ADF/cofilin in the stimulus-induced barbed end generation at the leading edge, we inhibited ADF/cofilin's activity in vivo by increasing its phosphorylation level using the kinase domain of LIM-kinase 1 (GFP-K). We report here that expression of GFP-K in rat cells results in the near total phosphorylation of ADF/cofilin, without changing either the G/F-actin ratio or signaling from the EGF receptor in vivo. Phosphorylation of ADF/cofilin is sufficient to completely inhibit the appearance of barbed ends and lamellipod protrusion, even in the continued presence of abundant G-actin. Coexpression of GFP-K, together with an active, nonphosphorylatable mutant of cofilin (S3A cofilin), rescues barbed end formation and lamellipod protrusion, indicating that the effects of kinase expression are caused by the phosphorylation of ADF/cofilin. These results indicate a direct role for ADF/cofilin in the generation of the barbed ends that are required for lamellipod extension in response to EGF stimulation.

UNC-60B, an ADF/cofilin family protein, is required for proper assembly of actin into myofibrils in Caenorhabditis elegans body wall muscle

The Caenorhabditis elegans unc-60 gene encodes two functionally distinct isoforms of ADF/cofilin that are implicated in myofibril assembly. Here, we show that one of the gene products, UNC-60B, is specifically required for proper assembly of actin into myofibrils. We found that all homozygous viable unc-60 mutations resided in the unc-60B coding region, indicating that UNC-60B is responsible for the Unc-60 phenotype. Wild-type UNC-60B had F-actin binding, partial actin depolymerizing, and weak F-actin severing activities in vitro. However, mutations in UNC-60B caused various alterations in these activities. Three missense mutations resulted in weaker F-actin binding and actin depolymerizing activities and complete loss of severing activity. The r398 mutation truncated three residues from the COOH terminus and resulted in the loss of severing activity and greater actin depolymerizing activity. The s1307 mutation in a putative actin-binding helix caused greater activity in actin-depolymerizing and severing. Using a specific antibody for UNC-60B, we found varying protein levels of UNC-60B in mutant animals, and that UNC-60B was expressed in embryonic muscles. Regardless of these various molecular phenotypes, actin was not properly assembled into embryonic myofibrils in all unc-60 mutants to similar extents. We conclude that precise control of actin filament dynamics by UNC-60B is required for proper integration of actin into myofibrils.