Focal adhesion kinase is a phospho-regulated repressor of Rac and proliferation in human endothelial cells

Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is critically positioned to integrate signals from the extracellular matrix and cellular adhesion. It is essential for normal vascular development and has been implicated in a wide range of cellular functions including the regulation of cell proliferation, migration, differentiation, and survival. It is currently being actively targeted therapeutically using different approaches. We have used human endothelial cells as a model system to compare the effects of inhibiting FAK through several different approaches including dominant negatives, kinase inhibitors and shRNA. We find that manipulations of FAK signaling that result in inhibition of FAK 397 phosphorylation inhibit proliferation and migration. However, abolition of FAK expression using stable (shRNA) or transient (siRNA) approaches does not interfere with these cellular functions. The ability to regulate cell proliferation by FAK manipulation is correlated with the activation status of Rac, an essential signal for the regulation of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors. The knockdown of FAK, while not affecting cellular proliferation or migration, dramatically interferes with vascular morphogenesis and survival, mirroring in vivo findings. We propose a novel model of FAK signaling whereby one of the multifunctional roles of FAK as a signaling protein includes FAK as a phospho-regulated repressor of Rac activation, with important implications on interpretation of research experiments and therapeutic development.