Epidermal growth factor-induced phosphoinositide hydrolysis in permeabilized 3T3 cells: lack of guanosine triphosphate dependence and inhibition by tyrosine-containing peptides.

The possible involvement of a stimulatory guanosine triphosphate (GTP)-binding (G) protein in epidermal growth factor (EGF)-induced phosphoinositide hydrolysis has been investigated in permeabilized NIH-3T3 cells expressing the human EGF receptor. The mitogenic phospholipid lysophosphatidate (LPA), a potent inducer of phosphoinositide hydrolysis, was used as a control stimulus. In intact cells, pertussis toxin partially inhibits the LPA-induced formation of inositol phosphates, but has no effect on the response to EGF. In cells permeabilized with streptolysin-O, guanosine 5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate) (GTP gamma S) dramatically increases the initial rate of inositol phosphate formation induced by LPA. In contrast, activation of phospholipase C (PLC) by EGF occurs in a GTP-independent manner. Guanine 5'-O-(2-thiodiphosphate) (GDP beta S) which keeps G proteins in their inactive state, blocks the stimulation by LPA and GTP gamma S, but fails to affect the EGF-induced response. Tyrosine-containing substrate peptides, when added to permeabilized cells, inhibit EGF-induced phosphoinositide hydrolysis without interfering with the response to LPA and GTP gamma S. These data suggest that the EGF receptor does not utilize an intermediary G protein to activate PLC and that receptor-mediated activation of effector systems can be inhibited by exogenous substrate peptides.