Caspase cleavage of the MET receptor generates an HGF interfering fragment

Julien Deheuninck (1) , Bénédicte Foveau (1) , Gautier Goormachtigh (1) , Catherine Leroy (1) , Zongling Ji (1) , David Tulasne (1) , Véronique Fafeur (1)

1 IBLI - Institut de biologie de Lille - IBL

The MET tyrosine kinase receptor activated by its ligand HGF/SF, induces several cellular responses, including survival. Nonetheless, the MET receptor is cleaved in stress conditions by caspases within its intracellular region, generating a 40 kDa fragment, p40 MET, with pro-apoptotic properties. Here, we established that this cleavage splits the receptor at the juxtamembrane ESVD site, causing the concomitant generation of p100 MET, corresponding to the entire extracellular region of the MET receptor still spanning the membrane. This fragment is able to bind HGF/SF and to prevent HGF-dependent signaling downstream of full MET, demonstrating its function as a decoy receptor.

Mots clés: HGF; c-MET; Caspase; Tyrosine kinase receptor; Apoptosis

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]; Biologie moléculaire; Biologie cellulaire; Cancer

Julien Deheuninck, Bénédicte Foveau, Gautier Goormachtigh, Catherine Leroy, Zongling Ji, et al.. Caspase cleavage of the MET receptor generates an HGF interfering fragment. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 2008, 367 (3), pp.573-577. ⟨10.1016/j.bbrc.2007.12.177⟩. ⟨hal-03104040⟩