Identification of a cross-talk between EGFR and Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathways in HepG2 liver cancer cells

Abstract

EGFRis a transmembrane receptor tyrosine kinase involved in regulating cell proliferation, differentiation and survival. EGFR is actively pursued as a therapeutic target because its aberrant expression or activity has been reported in several cancers. Several studies have reported the nuclear localization of the EGFR in various cell types, however, its exact nuclear functions are not clear yet. In this study, we have generated GFP fusion constructs of EGFR and its mutants to analyze their subcellular localizationin normal and cancer cells and impact of its sub-cellular location on its various activities using immunoblotting, confocal microscopy, reporter assays, loss-of-function EGFR mutants, and EGFR specific small molecule inhibitors. We show that EGFR is involved in modulating TCF dependent β-catenin transcriptional activity in HepG2 cells in a similar fashion as IGF1R tyrosine kinase. Moreover, we show that cytoplasmic and nuclear functions are two independent activities of EGFR.