Insulin-induced subcellular redistribution of insulin-like growth factor II receptors in the rat adipose cell. Counterregulatory effects of isoproterenol, adenosine, and cAMP analogues

The Neglected Insulin: IGF-II, a Metabolic Regulator with Implications for Diabetes, Obesity, and Cancer

When originally discovered, one of the initial observations was that, when all of the insulin peptide was depleted from serum, the vast majority of the insulin activity remained and this was due to a single additional peptide, IGF-II. The IGF-II gene is adjacent to the insulin gene, which is a result of gene duplication, but has evolved to be considerably more complicated. It was one of the first genes recognised to be imprinted and expressed in a parent-of-origin specific manner. The gene codes for IGF-II mRNA, but, in addition, also codes for antisense RNA, long non-coding RNA, and several micro RNA. Recent evidence suggests that each of these have important independent roles in metabolic regulation. It has also become clear that an alternatively spliced form of the insulin receptor may be the principle IGF-II receptor. These recent discoveries have important implications for metabolic disorders and also for cancer, for which there is renewed acknowledgement of the importance of metabolic reprogramming.

Systemic Metabolism, Its Regulators, and Cancer: Past Mistakes and Future Potential

There has been a resurgence of interest in cancer metabolism; primarily in the resetting of metabolism within malignant cells. Metabolism within cells has always been a tightly regulated process; initially in protozoans due to metabolic enzymes, and the intracellular signaling pathways that regulate these, being directly sensitive to the availability of nutrients. With the evolution of metazoans many of these controls had been overlaid by extra-cellular regulators that ensured coordinated regulation of metabolism within the community of cells that comprised the organism. Central to these systemic regulators is the insulin/insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system that throughout evolution has integrated the control of tissue growth with metabolic status. Oncological interest in the main systemic metabolic regulators greatly subsided when pharmaceutical strategies designed to treat cancers failed in the clinic. During the same period, however the explosion of new information from genetics has revealed the complexity and heterogeneity of advanced cancers and helped explain the problems of managing cancer when it reaches such a stage. Evidence has also accumulated implying that the setting of the internal environment determines whether cancers progress to advanced disease and metabolic status is clearly an important component of this local ecology. We are in the midst of an epidemic of metabolic disorders and there is considerable research into strategies for controlling metabolism. Integrating these new streams of information suggests new possibilities for cancer prevention; both primary and secondary.

Translation Elongation and Recoding in Eukaryotes

In this review, we highlight the current understanding of translation elongation and recoding in eukaryotes. In addition to providing an overview of the process, recent advances in our understanding of the role of the factor eIF5A in both translation elongation and termination are discussed. We also highlight mechanisms of translation recoding with a focus on ribosomal frameshifting during elongation. We see that the balance between the basic steps in elongation and the less common recoding events is determined by the kinetics of the different processes as well as by specific sequence determinants.

Role of the IGF-II receptor in mediating acute, non-genomic effects of retinoids and IGF-II on keratinocyte cell death

In this study, we have examined the effects of retinoic acid (RA) on the human immortalized keratinocyte cell line (HaCaT). A significant twofold (P < 0.01) increase in apoptotic cell death compared with the control was found within 24 h of treatment with 10-5 M of RA. Apoptosis was confirmed by flow cytometry. Cycloheximide did not inhibit this acute RA-induced apoptosis. Interestingly, insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-II, 50 ng/ml) was able to significantly (67.3%; P < 0.05) reduce RA effects, whereas IGF-I (50 ng/ml) and insulin (75 ng/ml) were without effect. Furthermore, analogues of IGF-II [leu27 IGF-II and Des(1-6) IGF-II], with altered affinities for the IGF-I receptor and IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs), but retained affinities for the IGF-II receptor, also completely inhibited (100%; P < 0.01) RA-induced apoptosis, while an IGF-I receptor antagonist did not reduce the survival effects of IGF-II. Insulin pretreatment negates the survival effect of IGF-II. In contrast, mannose 6 phosphate (M6P) did not alter RA or IGF-II actions. These results indicate that rapid induction of cell death by RA is independent of production or secretion of new proteins. The inhibition of RA action by IGF-II was independent of its ability to signal through the IGF-I receptor or to interact with IGFBPs.

PKB inhibition prevents the stimulatory effect of insulin on glucose transport and protein translocation but not the antilipolytic effect in rat adipocytes

We identified 1-(5 chloronaphthalenesulfonyl)-1H-hexahydro-1, 4-diazepine, also known as ML-9, as a powerful inhibitor of PKB activity in different cells as well as of recombinant PKB. It also inhibits other downstream serine/threonine kinases, such as PKA and p90 S6 kinase, but not upstream tyrosine phosphorylation or PI3-kinase activation in response to insulin. We compared the effects of ML-9 and wortmannin on several insulin-stimulated effects in isolated rat fat cells. Both ML-9 and wortmannin inhibited glucose transport and GLUT4/IGF II receptor translocation to the plasma membrane. In contrast, only wortmannin inhibited the antilipolytic effect and PDE3B activation by insulin. Thus, ML-9 inhibits PKB but not PI3-kinase activation in response to insulin and is useful to differentiate between these effects. Both PI3-kinase and PKB are important for glucose transport and intracellular protein translocation while PKB does not appear to play an important role for the antilipolytic effect or activation of PDE3B in response to insulin.

Insulin promotes and cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate impairs functional insertion of insulin receptors in the plasma membrane of rat adipocytes: evidence for opposing effects of tyrosine and serine/threonine phosphorylation

The aim of the present study was to elucidate events in the plasma membrane (PM) associated with the previously described effect of insulin to rapidly enhance the number of cell surface insulin binding sites in rat adipocytes. [125I]insulin was cross-linked to cell surface insulin receptors of intact cells that had been preincubated with or without insulin. Subsequently prepared PM displayed a approximately 3-fold increase in bound [125I]insulin when cells had been pretreated with 6 nM insulin for 20 min compared to membranes from control cells, and SDS-PAGE with autoradiography showed that this occurred at the insulin receptor alpha-subunit. The magnitude of the effect was similar to that found for insulin binding to intact cells that had been preincubated with insulin. In contrast, the insulin binding capacity in the PM was not affected by prior treatment of cells with insulin when assessed with the addition of [125I]insulin directly to solubilized PM; this suggests an unchanged total number of PM receptors. Thus, the enhancement of cell surface insulin binding capacity produced by insulin is not due to the translocation of receptors, but instead appears to be confined to receptors already present in the PM. The addition of phospholipase C (from Clostridium perfringens), which cleaves PM phospholipids, mimicked the effect of insulin to enhance cell surface binding in adipocytes, and this suggests a pool of cryptic PM receptors. Both the nonmetabolizable cAMP analog N6-monobutyryl cAMP (N6-mbcAMP) and the serine/threonine phosphatase inhibitor okadaic acid abolished the effect of concomitant insulin treatment to increase binding capacity. In contrast, the tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor vanadate increased insulin binding even in the presence of okadaic acid or N6-mbcAMP. The effect of N6-mbcAMP to impair cell surface insulin binding was also evident in the presence of a peptide derived from the major histocompatibility complex type I that effectively impairs receptor internalization, but the amount of PM receptors assessed by immunoblot was unaltered. Taken together, the data suggest that insulin exposure leads to the uncovering of cryptic receptors associated with the PM. It is also suggested that tyrosine phosphorylation promotes this process, whereas enhanced serine phosphorylation, e.g. produced by cAMP, impairs the functional insertion of the receptors, rendering them unable to bind insulin.

Cryptic receptors for insulin-like growth factor II in the plasma membrane of rat adipocytes--a possible link to cellular insulin resistance

To further elucidate the mechanisms for short-term regulation of the receptor for insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II), we investigated effects of insulin, cAMP and phosphatase inhibitors on cell surface 125I-IGF-II binding in rat adipocytes. Preincubation with the serine/threonine phosphatase inhibitor okadaic acid (OA, 1 microM) or the non-hydrolysable cAMP analogue N6-mbcAMP (4 mM) markedly impaired insulin-stimulated 125I-IGF-II binding. Furthermore, addition of OA enhanced the inhibitory effect exerted by N6-mbcAMP. N6-mbcAMP also induced an insensitivity to insulin which was normalized by concomitant addition of the tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor vanadate (0.5 mM). In contrast, vanadate did not affect the impairment in maximal insulin-stimulated 125I-IGF-II binding produced by either OA or N6-mbcAMP. Phospholipase C (PLC), which cleaves phospholipids at the cell surface, markedly enhanced cell surface 125I-IGF-II binding in a concentration-dependent manner. Scatchard analysis demonstrated that the effect of PLC was due to an increased number of binding sites suggesting that "cryptic' IGF-II receptors are associated with the plasma membrane (PM). PLC (5 U/ml) also reversed the N6-mbcAMP-induced decrease of 125I-IGF-II binding at a low insulin concentration (10 microU/ml). Taken together, these data indicate that cAMP, similar to its effects on the glucose transporter GLUT 4 and the insulin receptor, may increase the proportion of functionally cryptic IGF-II receptors in the PM through mechanisms involving serine phosphorylation, possibly of a docking or coupling protein. Tyrosine phosphorylation appears to exert an opposite effect promoting the full cell surface expression of receptors.

The cGMP-inhibitable phosphodiesterase modulates glucose transport activation by insulin

To assess the role of the cGMP-inhibitable phosphodiesterase (cGI-PDE) in the action of insulin on glucose transport, adipocytes from young, lean rats were preincubated for 20 min at 37 degrees C with and without OPC 3911, a specific inhibitor of cGI-PDE, and 3-O-methylglucose uptake was measured. Insulin-stimulated glucose transport was impaired by OPC 3911 (approximately 15%) and this impairment became more pronounced in the presence of the degradable cAMP-analogue 8-bromo-cAMP (approximately 45%). This analogue alone did not significantly decrease glucose transport. Furthermore, insulin sensitivity was impaired by the combination of OPC 3911 and 8-bromo-cAMP. Maximal insulin-stimulated glucose transport in adipocytes from aging, obese rats was affected similarly by OPC 3911 and 8-bromo-cAMP, suggesting that cGI-PDE activity is not markedly altered in this insulin-resistant state. In conclusion, cGI-PDE exerts a modulating effect on the stimulatory action of insulin on glucose transport. This effect is particularly pronounced when the cellular cAMP levels are elevated.

Amiloride inhibits insulin sensitivity and responsiveness in rat adipocytes through different mechanisms

To investigate the mechanisms by which amiloride inhibits insulin action rat adipocytes were treated with insulin and with amiloride added before or after energy depleting the cells with 2 mM KCN. Amiloride decreased the insulin response on 3-0-methylglucose transport, IGF-II- and insulin binding in both intact and energy depleted cells. In contrast, the sensitivity to insulin was inhibited by amiloride only when it was added before KCN. The effect of amiloride on insulin sensitivity was probably exerted through the impaired activation of the insulin receptor tyrosine kinase and the decreased insulin binding. However, insulin responsiveness was probably impaired through a direct effect on the plasma membrane proteins. In contrast to a recent report with pituitary cells, amiloride did not affect the activation of the inhibitory GTP-binding protein (Gi) in rat adipocytes.