Ex Vivo Chemical Cytometric Analysis of Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase Activity in Single Human Airway Epithelial Cells
2014
Phillips, Ryan M. | Dailey, Lisa A. | Bair, Eric | Samet, James M | Allbritton, Nancy L.
We describe a novel method for the measurement of protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) activity in single human airway epithelial cells (hAECs) using capillary electrophoresis. This technique involved the microinjection of a fluorescent phosphopeptide that is hydrolyzed specifically by PTPs. Analyses in BEAS-2B immortalized bronchial epithelial cells showed rapid PTP-mediated dephosphorylation of the substrate (2.2 pmol min–¹ mg–¹) that was blocked by pretreatment of the cells with the PTP inhibitors pervanadate, Zn²⁺, and 1,2-naphthoquinone (76%, 69%, and 100% inhibition relative to PTP activity in untreated controls, respectively). These studies were then extended to a more physiologically relevant model system: primary hAECs cultured from bronchial brushings of living human subjects. In primary hAECs, dephosphorylation of the substrate occurred at a rate of 2.2 pmol min–¹ mg–¹ and was also effectively inhibited by preincubation of the cells with the inhibitors pervanadate, Zn²⁺, and 1,2-naphthoquinone (91%, 88%, and 87% median PTP inhibition, respectively). Reporter proteolysis in single BEAS-2B cells occurred at a median rate of 43 fmol min–¹ mg–¹ resulting in a mean half-life of 20 min. The reporter displayed a similar median half-life of 28 min in these single primary cells. Finally, single viable epithelial cells (which were assayed for PTP activity immediately after collection by bronchial brushing of a human volunteer) showed dephosphorylation rates ranging from 0.34 to 36 pmol min–¹ mg–¹ (n = 6). These results demonstrate the utility and applicability of this technique for the ex vivo quantification of PTP activity in small, heterogeneous, human cells and tissues.
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