Cited by 45Cellular transport and secretionCaveolin-1 and cellular processesReceptor Mechanisms and Signaling

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 94 of the 98 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 80 of the 174 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

Endocytosis and Physiology: Insights from Disabled-2 Deficient Mice

Open access
Tao, Wensi, Moore, Robert, Smith, Elizabeth R., Xu, Xiang-Xi·2016·Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology

Abstract

Disabled-2 (Dab2) is a clathrin and cargo binding endocytic adaptor protein, and cell biology studies revealed that Dab2 plays a role in cellular trafficking of a number of transmembrane receptors and signaling proteins. A PTB/PID domain located in the N-terminus of Dab2 binds the NPXY motif(s) present at the cytoplasmic tails of certain transmembrane proteins/receptors. The membrane receptors reported to bind directly to Dab2 include LDL receptor and its family members LRP1 and LRP2 (megalin), growth factor receptors EGFR and FGFR, and the cell adhesion receptor beta1 integrin. Dab2 also serves as an adaptor in signaling pathways. Particularly, Dab2 facilitates the endocytosis of the Ras activating Grb2/Sos1 signaling complex, controls its disassembly, and thereby regulates the Ras/MAPK signaling pathway. Cellular analyses have suggested several diverse functions for the widely expressed proteins, and Dab2 is also considered a tumor suppressor, as loss or reduced expression is found in several cancer types. Dab2 null mutant mice were generated and investigated to determine if the findings from cellular studies might be important and relevant in intact animals. Dab2 conditional knockout mice mediated through a Sox2-Cre transgene have no obvious developmental defects and have a normal life span despite that the Dab2 protein is essentially absent in the mutant mice. The conditional knockout mice were grossly normal, though more recent investigation of the Dab2-deficient mice revealed several phenotypes, which can be accounted for by several previously suggested mechanisms. The studies of mutant mice established that Dab2 plays multiple physiological roles through its endocytic functions and modulation of signal pathways.

Overview

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TL;DR

This review synthesizes cell-culture and mouse-knockout evidence that Disabled-2 (Dab2), a clathrin/cargo-binding endocytic adaptor, has multiple physiological roles despite Dab2-null mice being largely normal. Phenotypes in cholesterol homeostasis, kidney protein reuptake, mammary involution, tumor risk, and diet-induced adipose expansion are attributed mainly to Dab2’s endocytic functions and modulation of Ras/MAPK signaling.

Key findings

  • Dab2 conditional knockout mice generated with Sox2-Cre have no obvious developmental defects and a normal life span, with Dab2 protein essentially absent; unchallenged mice are grossly normal.
  • Reported phenotypes include mild proteinuria, increased serum cholesterol, delayed mammary involution, resistance to high-fat/high-calorie diet-induced weight gain in juvenile mice, and increased tumor incidence in aged mice at about 10%, mainly in uterus, ovary, liver, mammary gland, and colon.
  • In LDL receptor endocytosis, Dab2 loss alone causes only a small increase in serum cholesterol, but in the absence of Arh, additional Dab2 loss greatly augments serum LDL and cholesterol to levels similar to LDL receptor null mice; Dab2 is expressed in liver sinusoidal endothelial cells, not hepatocytes.
  • Loss of Dab2 expression occurs in about 90% of ovarian cancers and is an early event; Dab2 is proposed as a tumor suppressor, with tumor suppressor functions attributed to suppressing Ras/MAPK signaling, epithelial organization, and cell adhesion/migration.

Methods

  • Narrative review integrating published cell-culture studies, genetic mouse models (including constitutive and conditional knockouts such as Sox2-Cre and aP2-Cre), and prior phenotypic characterizations.
  • Expression profiling uses public GeneAtlas microarray datasets for mouse and human tissues, with Dab2 mRNA ranked by abundance and averaged across probe sets.
  • Main analysis is qualitative synthesis of Dab2 mutant phenotypes (summarized in Table 1) and proposed mechanisms, especially endocytosis and Ras/MAPK regulation; no new primary experimental cohort is reported.

Limitations

  • The paper states that the described phenotypes are likely incomplete and that additional Dab2 physiological functions will continue to be uncovered.
  • The paper notes that redundancy with similar adaptors, especially Arh and Numb, may obscure physiological impacts, and that some speculated cellular functions may not be physiological due to low tissue expression.
  • The paper identifies unresolved mechanisms, including how Dab2-mediated LDL endocytosis in sinusoidal endothelial cells affects hepatocyte cholesterol synthesis and whether Dab2-positive pericytes are pre-adipocytes; evident from the text, the review also relies on cited literature including a “submitted” manuscript and does not use a systematic search or meta-analysis.

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Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3389/fcell.2016.00129

Cites

94 of 94 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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Figures

Figure 1 Structure of Dab2 adaptor and a working model of its function in endocytosis and signaling. Dab2 has two main spliced forms, p96 and p67. The N-terminal PID/PTB domain of Dab2 binds to the NPXY motif in the intracellular domain of transmembrane glycoproteins/receptors such as LDL receptor, LRP family members, and integrins. The middle and C-terminal portions of Dab2 interact with endocytosis proteins clathrin and alpha-adaptin. The C-terminal portion of the protein also can bind myosin VI, a motor protein that mediates endocytic trafficking. Thus, Dab2 links endocytic vesicles to myosin VI motor trafficking along cellular actin filaments, targeting membrane proteins on the cargos to unique cell surface domains. Dab2 also has a proline-rich domain (PRD) that can bind SH3-containing proteins such as Grb2, Fyn, and Src. Dab2 protein is most similar to other adaptor proteins including neuronal specific family member Dab1, Numb, Numbl, and Arh. The amino acid (aa) numbers are indicated for either mouse (m) or human (h) proteins.
Figure 1 Structure of Dab2 adaptor and a working model of its function in endocytosis and signaling. Dab2 has two main spliced forms, p96 and p67. The N-terminal PID/PTB domain of Dab2 binds to the NPXY motif in the intracellular domain of transmembrane glycoproteins/receptors such as LDL receptor, LRP family members, and integrins. The middle and C-terminal portions of Dab2 interact with endocytosis proteins clathrin and alpha-adaptin. The C-terminal portion of the protein also can bind myosin VI, a motor protein that mediates endocytic trafficking. Thus, Dab2 links endocytic vesicles to myosin VI motor trafficking along cellular actin filaments, targeting membrane proteins on the cargos to unique cell surface domains. Dab2 also has a proline-rich domain (PRD) that can bind SH3-containing proteins such as Grb2, Fyn, and Src. Dab2 protein is most similar to other adaptor proteins including neuronal specific family member Dab1, Numb, Numbl, and Arh. The amino acid (aa) numbers are indicated for either mouse (m) or human (h) proteins.CC BY · PubMed Central
Figure 2 Dab2 modulation of Ras/MAPK pathway at the endosomal membranes, and Dab2 function in a feedback mechanism of the Ras/MAPK pathway. Receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK), including EGF and TGF-beta receptors, signal through the Grb2-Sos1 complexes and their activation of Ras, and downstream cascade Raf, MEK, and Erk1/2 to regulate cell proliferation, motility, and differentiation. Grb2 interacts through its SH2 domain binding to phosphotyrosine residue of the activated RTK, and binds via its SH3 domains to the proline-rich domain of Sos1 or Dab2. Phosphorylation of Sos1 and Dab2 by Erk1/2 leads to disassociation of Sos1/2 from Grb2, which is then sequestered by Dab2. The disassembly of Sos1/Grb2 complexes leads to the termination of Ras activation, serving as a feedback regulatory loop in the control of the Ras/MAPK pathway. The re-arrangement of Grb2/Sos1 complex to Grb2/Dab2 association likely coincides with clathrin and adaptor coat disassembly. Loss of Dab2 in cancer cells leads to unsuppressed Ras/MAPK activation.
Figure 2 Dab2 modulation of Ras/MAPK pathway at the endosomal membranes, and Dab2 function in a feedback mechanism of the Ras/MAPK pathway. Receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK), including EGF and TGF-beta receptors, signal through the Grb2-Sos1 complexes and their activation of Ras, and downstream cascade Raf, MEK, and Erk1/2 to regulate cell proliferation, motility, and differentiation. Grb2 interacts through its SH2 domain binding to phosphotyrosine residue of the activated RTK, and binds via its SH3 domains to the proline-rich domain of Sos1 or Dab2. Phosphorylation of Sos1 and Dab2 by Erk1/2 leads to disassociation of Sos1/2 from Grb2, which is then sequestered by Dab2. The disassembly of Sos1/Grb2 complexes leads to the termination of Ras activation, serving as a feedback regulatory loop in the control of the Ras/MAPK pathway. The re-arrangement of Grb2/Sos1 complex to Grb2/Dab2 association likely coincides with clathrin and adaptor coat disassembly. Loss of Dab2 in cancer cells leads to unsuppressed Ras/MAPK activation.CC BY · PubMed Central
Figure 3 Expression spectrum of Dab2 mRNA in murine and human tissues. (A) Dab2 expression in mouse tissues. Microarray data sets were acquired from an online public dataset GeneAtlas MOE430, gcrma (http://biogps.org/#goto=genereport&id=13132). The high-throughput gene expression profiling for Dab2 was generated from a diverse array of normal tissues, organs, and cell lines from mice. The final readouts were averages of four different probe sets with standard error of the mean (SEM) shown as error bars, normalized to housekeeping genes, and ranked according to the abundance of mRNA expression. (B) Dab2 expression in human tissues. Similar approaches were used to show Dab2 expression in human tissues.
Figure 3 Expression spectrum of Dab2 mRNA in murine and human tissues. (A) Dab2 expression in mouse tissues. Microarray data sets were acquired from an online public dataset GeneAtlas MOE430, gcrma (http://biogps.org/#goto=genereport&id=13132). The high-throughput gene expression profiling for Dab2 was generated from a diverse array of normal tissues, organs, and cell lines from mice. The final readouts were averages of four different probe sets with standard error of the mean (SEM) shown as error bars, normalized to housekeeping genes, and ranked according to the abundance of mRNA expression. (B) Dab2 expression in human tissues. Similar approaches were used to show Dab2 expression in human tissues.CC BY · PubMed Central
Figure 4 Role of Dab2 in the regulation of adipocyte cell size and number. In mammals, excess food intakes/calories are converted into fat (triacylglycerol) and is stored in adipocytes. Expansion of adipose tissue is achieved through either enlargement of cell size or multiplication of cell number. In the first phase, the adipocytes expand in cell size to accommodate the expanding lipid droplet. The second phase of adipose expansion involves the recruitment and differentiation of precursor cells into new adipocytes. The research results suggest Dab2 is essential for the expansion of adipocyte cell number. The preliminary result suggests that Dab2 suppresses MAPK and allows the unsuppressed activity of PPARγ to induce adipocyte differentiation. Thus, unsuppressed Ras/MAPK activation in pre-adipocytes that inhibits the differentiation accounts for the phenotype of resistance to high fat diet-induced weight gain in Dab2 null mice.
Figure 4 Role of Dab2 in the regulation of adipocyte cell size and number. In mammals, excess food intakes/calories are converted into fat (triacylglycerol) and is stored in adipocytes. Expansion of adipose tissue is achieved through either enlargement of cell size or multiplication of cell number. In the first phase, the adipocytes expand in cell size to accommodate the expanding lipid droplet. The second phase of adipose expansion involves the recruitment and differentiation of precursor cells into new adipocytes. The research results suggest Dab2 is essential for the expansion of adipocyte cell number. The preliminary result suggests that Dab2 suppresses MAPK and allows the unsuppressed activity of PPARγ to induce adipocyte differentiation. Thus, unsuppressed Ras/MAPK activation in pre-adipocytes that inhibits the differentiation accounts for the phenotype of resistance to high fat diet-induced weight gain in Dab2 null mice.CC BY · PubMed Central

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Metadata

Authors
Tao, W., Moore, R., Smith, E. R., & Xu, X.-X.
Affiliations
University of Miami (US)
Corresponding author
Xu, Xiang-Xi
Venue
Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology
Published
2016-11-25
Volume
4
Pages
129-129
ISSN
2296-634X (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2552899612
Cited by
43
References
98
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 3
FWCI
0.43
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
National Institutes of Health
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Cellular transport and secretion
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Caveolin-1 and cellular processes
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Receptor Mechanisms and Signaling
Keywords
Disabled-2, Dab2, clathrin adaptor proteins, endocytosis, PTB domain, NPXY motif, LDL receptor, LRP1, megalin, beta1 integrin, EGFR, fibroblast growth factor receptor, RAS/MAPK pathway, tumor suppressor, conditional knockout mice, developmental defects

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