Perturbed Regulation of ZAP-70 and Sustained Tyrosine Phosphorylation of LAT and SLP-76 in c-Cbl-Deficient Thymocytes

Recent studies indicate that c-Cbl and its oncogenic variants can modulate the activity of protein tyrosine kinases. This finding is supported by studies showing that c-Cbl interacts directly with a negative regulatory tyrosine in ZAP-70, and that the levels of tyrosine-phosphorylated ZAP-70 and numerous other proteins are increased in TCR-stimulated thymocytes from c-Cbl-deficient mice. Here, we demonstrate that this enhanced phosphorylation of ZAP-70 and that of two substrates, LAT and SLP-76, is not due to altered protein levels but is the consequence of two separate events. First, we find increased expression of tyrosine-phosphorylated TCRzeta chain in c-Cbl-deficient thymocytes, which results in a higher level of zeta-chain-associated ZAP-70 that is initially accessible for activation. Thus, more ZAP-70 is activated and more of its substrates (LAT and SLP-76) become tyrosine-phosphorylated after TCR stimulation. However, an additional mechanism of ZAP-70 regulation is evident at a later time poststimulation. At this time, ZAP-70 from both normal and c-Cbl-/- thymocytes becomes hyperphosphorylated; however, only in normal thymocytes does this correlate with ZAP-70 down-regulation and a diminished ability to phosphorylate LAT and SLP-76. In contrast, c-Cbl-deficient thymocytes display altered phosphorylation kinetics, for which LAT phosphorylation is increased and SLP-76 phosphorylation is sustained. Thus, the ability to down-regulate the phosphorylation of two ZAP-70 substrates is impaired in c-Cbl-/- thymocytes. These findings provide evidence that c-Cbl is involved in the negative regulation of the phosphorylation of LAT and SLP-76 by ZAP-70.