Diacylglycerol Kinase η Augments C-Raf Activity and B-Raf/C-Raf Heterodimerization

The Ras/B-Raf/C-Raf/MEK/ERK signaling cascade is critical for the control of many fundamental cellular processes, including proliferation, survival, and differentiation. This study demonstrated that small interfering RNA-dependent knockdown of diacylglycerol kinase eta (DGK eta) impaired the Ras/B-Raf/C-Raf/MEK/ERK pathway activated by epidermal growth factor (EGF) in HeLa cells. Conversely, the overexpression of DGK eta 1 could activate the Ras/B-Raf/C-Raf/MEK/ERK pathway in a DGK activity-independent manner, suggesting that DGK eta serves as a scaffold/adaptor protein. By determining the activity of all the components of the pathway in DGK eta-silenced HeLa cells, this study revealed that DGK eta activated C-Raf but not B-Raf. Moreover, this study demonstrated that DGK eta enhanced EGF-induced heterodimerization of C-Raf with B-Raf, which transmits the signal to C-Raf. DGK eta physically interacted with B-Raf and C-Raf, regulating EGF-induced recruitment of B-Raf and C-Raf from the cytosol to membranes. The DGK eta-dependent activation of C-Raf occurred downstream or independently of the already known C-Raf modifications, such as dephosphorylation at Ser-259, phosphorylation at Ser-338, and interaction with 14-3-3 protein. Taken together, the results obtained strongly support that DGK eta acts as a novel critical regulatory component of the Ras/B-Raf/C-Raf/MEK/ERK signaling cascade via a previously unidentified mechanism.