Fluoxetine-induced transactivation of the platelet-derived growth factor type β receptor reveals a novel heterologous desensitization process.

Many G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), including serotonin (5-HT) receptors promote the activity of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) via intracellular signaling pathways in a process termed transactivation. Although transactivation pathways are commonly initiated by a GPCR, a recent report demonstrated that serotonin-selective reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were able to block 5-HT-induced transactivation of the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) type β receptor. We show that a 45 min pretreatment of SH-SY5Y cells with the SSRI fluoxetine indeed blocked 5-HT-induced transactivation of the PDGFβ receptor. However, upon further examination, we discovered that during the pretreatment period, fluoxetine itself was transiently transactivating the PDGFβ receptor via 5-HT2 receptor activation. After 45min, the increase in PDGFβ receptor phosphorylation induced by fluoxetine had returned to baseline, but a subsequent transactivating stimulus (5-HT) failed to “re-transactivate” the PDGFβ receptor. We further demonstrate that 45min, but not 3h, 5-HT pretreatment blocks dopamine-induced PDGFβ receptor transactivation. This did not involve changes in PDGF receptor function, since ligand (PDGF)-induced PDGFβ receptor activation was not inhibited by 5-HT pretreatment. To our knowledge this is the first demonstration of the heterologous desensitization of an RTK transactivation pathway and reveals a previously unknown short-term “blackout” period where no additional transactivation signaling is possible.