Association of the β isoform of protein kinase C with vimentin filaments

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Abstract
Protein kinase C (PKC) isoforms are key mediators in hormone, growth factor, and neurotransmitter triggered pathways of cell activation (Nishizuka: Science 233:305–312, 1986; Nature 334:661–665, 1988). Stimulation of kinase activity by diacylglycerol and calcium often leads to translocation of PKC from the cytosol to a particulate fraction (Kraft and Anderson: Nature 301:621–623, 1983). The β isoform of PKC is translocated and degraded much more rapidly than the β isoform in phorbolester-stimulated rat basophilic leukemia (RBL) cells (Huang et al.: J. Biol. Chem. 264:4238–4243, 1989). We report here immunofluorescence evidence that the distributions of PKC α and β are strikingly different in antigen-activated RBL cells. PKC β associates with perinuclear filaments and filaments that extend from the perinuclear area to the cell periphery whereas PKC β concentrates in regions of the cell periphery. This distribution of PKC β is distinctly different from that of actin filaments and microtubules as determined by phalloidin staining and by anti-tubulin antibody labeling. In contrast, the staining patterns obtained with antibodies to PKC β and to the intermediate filament protein vimentin are almost identical, indicating that PKC β associates with vimentin filaments. These bundles of 100 Å filaments may provide docking sites for interactions of PKC β with its substrates and thus confer specificity to the actions of this isoform.