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Published online 12 March 2001. doi:10.1083/jcb.152.6.1145
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© The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525/2001/3/1145/ $5.00
The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 152, Number 6, March 19, 2001 1145-1158

Original Article

Rac Mediates Cytoskeletal Rearrangements and Increased Cell Motility Induced by Urokinase-type Plasminogen Activator Receptor Binding to Vitronectin

Lars Kjøllera and Alan Halla,b
a Medical Research Council Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology, Cancer Research Campaign Oncogene and Signal Transduction Group
b Department of Biochemistry, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom

Correspondence to: Alan Hall, MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology, University College London, Gower St., WC1E 6BT London, UK. Tel:44-20-7679-7909 Fax:44-20-7679-7805 E-mail:alan.hall{at}ucl.ac.uk.

The urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) is involved in the regulation of cell motility in a variety of cell types. We show here that expression of human uPAR in growing murine fibroblasts leads to a dramatic reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton. uPAR expression induces multiple rapidly advancing protrusions that resemble the leading edge of migrating cells. The cytoskeletal changes are independent of uPA and activation of the RGD-binding activity of integrins but require uPAR binding to vitronectin (VN). The actin reorganization is blocked by coexpression of dominant negative versions of either Rac (N17Rac) or p130Cas, but not by inhibitors of Cdc42 or Rho, and is accompanied by a Rac-dependent increase in cell motility. In addition, a fourfold increase in the level of activated Rac is induced by uPAR expression. We conclude that uPAR interacts with VN both to initiate a p130Cas/Rac-dependent signaling pathway leading to actin reorganization and increased cell motility and to act as an adhesion receptor required for these responses. This mechanism may play a role in uPAR-mediated regulation of cell motility at sites where VN and uPAR are co-expressed, such as malignant tumors.

Key Words: cell migration, Rho family GTPases, vitronectin, cytoskeleton, urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor


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