Expression and muscarinic receptor coupling of Lyn kinase in cultured human airway smooth muscle cells

Src family tyrosine kinases are signaling intermediates in a diverse array of cellular events including cell differentiation, motility, proliferation, and survival. In nonairway smooth muscle cells, muscarinic receptors directly interact with Src family tyrosine kinases. As little is known about the expression and signaling of these Src family tyrosine kinases in human airway smooth muscle cells, we determined the expression of Src family members and characterized the muscarinic receptor-mediated activation of Lyn kinase in these cells. RT-PCR revealed mRNA transcripts for FYN, c-SRC, YES, FRK, and LYN. Fyn, c-Src, Yes, and Lyn were identified in cultured airway smooth muscle cells by immunoblot analysis. In both nontransformed human cultured airway smooth muscle cells and cells transduced with wild-type human Lyn kinase, carbachol increased Lyn kinase activity. Pertussis toxin pretreatment failed to block carbachol activation of Lyn kinase but did attenuate the carbachol-induced increase in ERK/MAPK phosphorylation. Moreover, carbachol inhibited adenylyl cyclase but failed to increase total inositol phosphate synthesis in these cells. The present study shows that Lyn kinase is expressed in human cultured airway smooth muscle cells at both the mRNA and protein levels and that carbachol, an M ₂ muscarinic receptor agonist in these cells, activates Lyn kinase by a pertussis toxin-insensitive signaling pathway.