Stem cell factor (SCF) has an important role in the proliferation,
differentiation, survival, and migration of hematopoietic cells. SCF
exerts its effects by binding to cKit, a receptor with intrinsic tyrosine
kinase activity. Activation of phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase (PI3-K) by
cKit was previously shown to contribute to many SCF-induced cellular
responses. Therefore, PI3-K-dependent signaling pathways activated by SCF
were investigated. The PI3-K-dependent activation and phosphorylation of
the tyrosine kinase Tec and the adapter molecule p62Dok-1 are reported.
The study shows that Tec and Dok-1 form a stable complex with Lyn and 2
unidentified phosphoproteins of 56 and 140 kd. Both the Tec homology and
the SH2 domain of Tec were identified as being required for the
interaction with Dok-1, whereas 2 domains in Dok-1 appeared to mediate the
association with Tec. In addition, Tec and Lyn were shown to phosphorylate
Dok-1, whereas phosphorylated Dok-1 was demonstrated to bind to the SH2
domains of several signaling molecules activated by SCF, including Abl,
CrkL, SHIP, and PLCgamma-1, but not those of Vav and Shc. These findings
suggest that p62Dok-1 may function as an important scaffold molecule in
cKit-mediated signaling