Regulation of H-Ras-driven MAPK signaling, transformation and tumorigenesis, but not PI3K signaling and tumor progression, by plasma membrane microdomains

In this study, we assessed the contributions of plasma membrane (PM) microdomain targeting to the functions of H-Ras and R-Ras. These paralogs have identical effector-binding regions, but variant C-terminal targeting domains (tDs) which are responsible for lateral microdomain distribution: activated H-Ras targets to lipid ordered/disordered (L(o)/L(d)) domain borders, and R-Ras to L(o) domains (rafts). We hypothesized that PM distribution regulates Ras-effector interactions and downstream signaling. We used tD swap mutants, and assessed effects on signal transduction, cell proliferation, transformation and tumorigenesis. R-Ras harboring the H-Ras tD (R-Ras-tH) interacted with Raf, and induced Raf and ERK phosphorylation similar to H-Ras. R-Ras-tH stimulated proliferation and transformation in vitro, and these effects were blocked by both MEK and PI3K inhibition. Conversely, the R-Ras tD suppressed H-Ras-mediated Raf activation and ERK phosphorylation, proliferation and transformation. Thus, Ras access to Raf at the PM is sufficient for MAPK activation and is a principal component of Ras mitogenesis and transformation. Fusion of the R-Ras extended N-terminal domain to H-Ras had no effect on proliferation, but inhibited transformation and tumor progression, indicating that the R-Ras N-terminus also contributes negative regulation to these Ras functions. PI3K activation was tD independent; however, H-Ras was a stronger activator of PI3K than R-Ras, with either tD. PI3K inhibition nearly ablated transformation by R-Ras-tH, H-Ras and H-Ras-tR, whereas MEK inhibition had a modest effect on Ras-tH-driven transformation but no effect on H-Ras-tR transformation. R-Ras-tH supported tumor initiation, but not tumor progression. While H-Ras-tR-induced transformation was reduced relative to H-Ras, tumor progression was robust and similar to H-Ras. H-Ras tumor growth was moderately suppressed by MEK inhibition, which had no effect on H-Ras-tR tumor growth. In contrast, PI3K inhibition markedly suppressed tumor growth by H-Ras and H-Ras-tR, indicating that sustained PI3K signaling is a critical pathway for H-Ras-driven tumor progression, independent of microdomains.