Activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases via CD40 is distinct from that stimulated by surface IgM on B cells.

CD40 plays critical roles in B cell proliferation and differentiation in response to T cell-dependent antigenic stimulation. It has been suggested that CD40-mediated biological activities are transduced by a CD40 receptor-associated factor, CRAF1 and probably by protein tyrosine kinase Lyn and its substrates, phospholipase C gamma (PLC gamma) and phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI-3 kinase). Here, we describe the novel finding that a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK) cascade is involved in CD40 signaling in mouse B cells. Analysis of ERK activities in the B cell lymphoma cell line WEHI 231, which shows an increase in DNA synthesis or arrest of the cell cycle by cross-linking of CD40 or surface IgM (sIgM) cross-linking, respectively, indicated that one of the ERK isoforms, ERK2, was preferentially and rapidly activated after CD40 cross-linking. The CD40-mediated ERK2 activation was comparable to that after sIgM stimulation, although the activity was reduced toward the basal level within several minutes after stimulation. In contrast, ERK1 and ERK2 were activated to a similar extent by sIgM cross-linking, and the activities remained stable for at least 10 min. Furthermore, similar features of differential activation of ERK isoforms were observed in normal resting B cells in CD40 and sIgM signaling. These results suggest divergent regulatory pathways for ERK1 and ERK2 activation, and they support the notion that CD40 signaling may utilize a limited set of elements in the ERK cascade. Co-stimulation of WEHI 231 cells with anti-CD40 mAb rescues the cells from anti-IgM-mediated apoptosis, whereas this co-stimulation resulted in activation of ERK isoforms comparable to that in sIgM stimulation, without a synergistic effect. This result indicates the dominance of ERK activation in sIgM signaling over that of CD40, and it suggests that ERK activation may not be linked to the biological effect that CD40 stimulation in this cell line.