Activated Ras induces cytoplasmic vacuolation and non-apoptotic death in glioblastoma cells via novel effector pathways

Expression of activated H-Ras induces a unique form of non-apoptotic cell death in human glioblastoma cells and other specific tumor cell lines. The major cytopathological features of this form of death are the accumulation of large phase-lucent, LAMP1-positive, cytoplasmic vacuoles. In this study we sought to determine if induction of cytoplasmic vacuolation a) depends on Ras farnesylation, b) is specific to H-Ras, and c) is mediated by signaling through the major known Ras effector pathways. We find that the unusual effects of activated H-Ras depend on farnesylation and membrane association of the GTPase. Both H-Ras(G12V) and K-Ras4B(G12V) stimulate vacuolation, but activated forms of Cdc42 and RhoA do not. Amino acid substitutions in the Ras effector domain, which are known to selectively impair its interactions with Raf kinase, class-I phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), or Ral nucleotide exchange factors, initially pointed to Raf as a possible mediator of cell vacuolation. However, the MEK inhibitor, PD98059, did not block the induction of vacuoles, and constitutively active Raf-Caax did not mimic the effects of Ras(G12V). Introduction of normal PTEN together with H-Ras(G12V) into U251 glioblastoma cells reduced the PI3K-dependent activation of Akt, but had no effect on vacuolation. Finally, co-expression of H-Ras(G12V) with a dominant-negative form of RalA did not suppress vacuolation. Taken together, the observations indicate that Ras activates non-conventional and perhaps unique effector pathways to induce cytoplasmic vacuolation in glioblastoma cells. Identification of the relevant signaling pathways may uncover specific molecular targets that can be manipulated to activate non-apoptotic cell death in this type of cancer.