GIV/Girdin (Gα-interacting, Vesicle-associated Protein/Girdin) Creates a Positive Feedback Loop That Potentiates Outside-in Integrin Signaling in Cancer Cells

Activation of the tyrosine kinase focal adhesion kinase (FAK) upon cell stimulation by the extracellular matrix initiates integrin outside-in signaling. FAK is directly recruited to active integrins, which enhances its kinase activity and triggers downstream signaling like activation of PI3K. We recently described that Gα-interacting, vesicle-associated protein (GIV), a protein up-regulated in metastatic cancers, is also required for outside-in integrin signaling. More specifically, we found that GIV is a non-receptor guanine nucleotide exchange factor that activates trimeric G proteins in response to integrin stimulation to enhance PI3K signaling and tumor cell migration. In contrast, previous reports have established that GIV is involved in phosphotyrosine (Tyr(P))-based signaling in response to growth factor stimulation;i.e.GIV phosphorylation at Tyr-1764 and Tyr-1798 recruits and activates PI3K. Here we show that phosphorylation of GIV at Tyr-1764/Tyr-1798 is also required to enhance PI3K-Akt signaling and tumor cell migration in response to integrin stimulation, indicating that GIV functions in Tyr(P)-dependent integrin signaling. Unexpectedly, we found that activation of FAK, an upstream component of the integrin Tyr(P) signaling cascade, was diminished in GIV-depleted cells, suggesting that GIV is required to establish a positive feedback loop that enhances integrin-FAK signaling. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that this feedback activation of FAK depends on both guanine nucleotide exchange factor and Tyr(P) GIV signaling as well as on their convergence point, PI3K. Taken together, our results provide novel mechanistic insights into how GIV promotes proinvasive cancer cell behavior by working as a signal-amplifying platform at the crossroads of trimeric G protein and Tyr(P) signaling.