Transcriptional activation of cyclin D1 promoter by FAK contributes to cell cycle progression.

Integrin-mediated cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix is required for normal cell growth. Cyclin D1 is a key regulator of G1-to-S phase progression of the cell cycle. Our previous studies have demonstrated that integrin signaling through focal adhesion kinase (FAK) plays a role in the regulation of cell cycle progression, which correlates with changes in the expression of cyclin D1 and the cdk inhibitor, p21, induced by FAK. In this report, we first investigated the roles of both cyclin D1 and p21 in the regulation of cell cycle progression by FAK. We found that overexpression of a dominant-negative FAK mutant DeltaC14 suppressed cell cycle progression in p21(-/-) cells as effectively as in the control p21(+/+) cells. Furthermore, we found that overexpression of ectopic cyclin D1 could rescue cell cycle inhibition by DeltaC14. These results suggested that cyclin D1, but not p21, was the primary functional target of FAK signaling pathways in cell cycle regulation. We then investigated the mechanisms underlying the regulation of cyclin D1 expression by FAK signaling. Using Northern blotting and cyclin D1 promoter/luciferase assays, we showed that FAK signaling regulated cyclin D1 expression at the transcriptional level. Using a series of cyclin D1 promoter mutants in luciferase assays as well as electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA), we showed that the EtsB binding site mediated cyclin D1 promoter regulation by FAK. Finally, we showed that FAK regulation of cyclin D1 depends on integrin-mediated cell adhesion and is likely through its activation of the Erk signaling pathway. Together, these studies demonstrate that transcriptional regulation of cyclin D1 by FAK signaling pathways contributes to the regulation of cell cycle progression in cell adhesion.