The insulin receptor and the molecular mechanism of insulin action.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M F White.
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The impact over a 12-month period of a major increase in enrollment of prepaid insurance patients on the clinical, administrative, and educational activities of a university-based family practice residency program is described. Patient services increased by 40 percent, placing a heavy clinical load on faculty and third-year residents. There were significant increases in referral to psychology, psychotherapy, ophthalmology, and otolaryngology specialists. The high demand for services caused logistical difficulties for office and nursing staff. Adaptation to these changes and cost-containment efforts were hampered by institutional relationships. Strategies to manage the impact included hiring additional staff and part-time clinicians, introducing quality assurance and internal control procedures, and repeated orientation to the prepaid plan. Overall, the impact of the plan was of educational value to both residents and faculty.
Using antiphosphotyrosine antibodies, we have characterized the tyrosine phosphorylation of an endogenous substrate of the insulin receptor in Fao hepatoma cells and in Chinese hamster ovary cells transfected with a eukaryotic expression vector containing the human insulin receptor cDNA. In Fao cells, besides the beta-subunit of the insulin receptor, a protein with a molecular mass between 170 and 210 kDa designated pp185, undergoes tyrosine phosphorylation immediately after insulin stimulation reaching a maximum level within 30 s. After 4 h of continuous insulin stimulation, the labeling of pp185 decreased to less than half of its original intensity, whereas the insulin receptor was unchanged. After 24 h of insulin stimulation, the phosphotyrosine-containing insulin receptor decreased by 75% owing to down-regulation, whereas the pp185 was completely undetectable. By several biochemical and physiological criteria, the pp185 is distinct from the insulin receptor. The pp185 and the beta-subunit of the insulin receptor were strongly labeled with [32P]orthophosphate, but in contrast to the insulin receptor, the pp185 was not labeled by cross-linking with 125I-insulin or surface 125I iodination. Unlike the insulin receptor, the pp185 was extracted from Fao cells without detergent, and tryptic phosphopeptide mapping of the pp185 and the insulin receptor yielded distinct patterns. Thus, the pp185 is not located at the external face of the plasma membrane and does not bind insulin. Treatment of Fao cells with the phorbol ester, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, stimulated the phosphorylation of two proteins with molecular weights of 170 and 210 kDa which were immunoprecipitated with the anti-phosphotyrosine antibody. Subsequent insulin stimulation increased the phosphorylation of the 210 kDa protein, but the pp185 was not detected. Increasing the concentration of the human insulin receptor in the Chinese hamster ovary cells by transfection with a plasmid containing the human insulin receptor cDNA caused a higher level of tyrosine phosphorylation of the beta-subunit and the pp185. These data support the notion that the insulin signal may be transmitted to a cellular substrate (pp185) which may initiate insulin action at intracellular sites.
Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) was used to examine the role of insulin receptor phosphorylation in the regulation of insulin receptor internalization in vascular endothelial cells. Association of 125I-insulin in rat capillary and bovine aortic endothelial cells preincubated with PMA was increased by 80 and 64% over control, respectively. The increase was due to enhanced 125I-insulin internalization as opposed to an effect on surface-bound hormone. PMA had no significant effect on 125I-insulin degradation or on release of internalized insulin from the cells. Internalization of 125I-labeled insulin receptor was determined by the resistance of labeled receptor to trypsinization. At 10 degrees C, nearly all of the labeled receptor was sensitive to removal by trypsin, indicating that it was exposed on the cell surface. Exposure of labeled cells to insulin (100 nM) at 37 degrees C resulted in the rapid appearance of trypsin-resistant insulin receptor, indicating receptor internalization. Steady state for receptor internalization was attained at 10-15 min. When surfaced-labeled cells were preincubated with PMA at 37 degrees C, the rate of insulin receptor internalization was increased by 3.6 +/- 0.2-fold and 2.1 +/- 0.5-fold at 1 and 5 min of insulin exposure, respectively (ED50 at 16 nM PMA). This effect of PMA was associated with an increase in serine phosphorylation of the insulin receptor. Thus, PMA increased insulin internalization in the endothelial cells by modulating the insulin-induced internalization of the receptor. The additive effects of PMA and insulin on insulin receptor phosphorylation suggest that the phorbol ester and insulin act via independent signaling mechanisms.
The beta-subunit of the insulin receptor contains a tyrosine-specific protein kinase. Insulin binding activates this kinase and causes phosphorylation of the beta-subunit of the insulin receptor. It is believed that phosphorylation of other proteins might transmit the insulin signal from the receptor to the cell. In the present study we used a polyclonal anti-phosphotyrosine antibody to detect other proteins that become tyrosine phosphorylated upon insulin stimulation. Glycoproteins from human placenta membranes were enriched by wheat germ agglutinin chromatography and phosphorylation was studied with [gamma-32P]ATP and insulin in vitro. Phosphorylated proteins were immunoprecipitated by antibodies against the insulin receptor and by serum containing the anti-phosphotyrosine antibody. Beside the insulin-stimulated phosphorylation of the 95 kDa beta-subunit of the insulin receptor, an insulin-stimulated phosphorylation of a 180 kDa protein was found. The phosphorylation of both proteins occurred only on tyrosine residues. Insulin increased 32P incorporation into the 180 kDa band 2.7-fold (S.E.M. +/- 0.3, n = 5). The 180 kDa protein was not precipitated by antibodies against the insulin receptor. H.p.l.c. chromatograms of tryptic fragments of the phosphorylated 180 kDa protein and of the beta-subunit of the insulin receptor revealed different patterns for both proteins. Insulin-stimulated phosphorylation of the 180 kDa protein was also detectable in unfractionated detergent-solubilized membranes. The phosphorylation of the 180 kDa protein was stimulated by insulin with the same dose-response curve as the phosphorylation of the beta-subunit, suggesting that this protein might be another endogenous substrate of the insulin receptor kinase.
We have studied the structure and function of the solubilized insulin receptor before and after partial proteolytic digestion to define domains in the beta-subunit that undergo autophosphorylation and contain the tyrosine kinase activity. Wheat germ agglutinin purified insulin receptor from Fao cells was digested briefly at 22 degrees C with low concentrations (5-10 micrograms/mL, pH 7.4) of trypsin, staphylococcal V8 protease, or elastase. Autophosphorylation of the beta-subunit was carried out before and after digestion, and the [32P]phosphoproteins were separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, detected by autoradiography, and analyzed by tryptic peptide mapping by use of reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Mild trypsin digestion reduced the apparent molecular mass of the beta-subunit from 95 to 85 kDa, and then to 70 kDa. The 85-kDa fragment was not immunoprecipitated by an antibody directed against the C-terminal domain of the beta-subunit (alpha Pep-1), indicating that this region of the receptor was lost. The 85-kDa fragment contained about half of the [32P]phosphate originally found in the beta-subunit, and tryptic peptide mapping showed that two major tryptic phosphopeptides (previously called pY2 and pY3) were removed. Three other tryptic phosphopeptides (pY1, pY1a, and pY4) were found in the 85- and 70-kDa fragments. Treatment of the intact receptor with staphylococcal V8 protease also converted the beta-subunit to an 85-kDa fragment that did not bind to alpha Pep-1, contained about 50% of the initial radioactivity, and lacked pY2 and pY3. Elastase rapidly degraded the receptor to inactive fragments between 37 and 50 kDa.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The type I insulin-like growth factor (IGF) receptor, like the insulin receptor, contains a ligand-stimulated protein-tyrosine kinase activity in its beta-subunit. However, in vivo, no substrates have been identified. We used anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies to identify phosphotyrosine-containing proteins which occur during IGF-I stimulation of normal rat kidney and Madin-Darby canine kidney cells labeled with ortho[32P]phosphate. Both cells provide a good system to study the function of the type I IGF receptors because they contain high concentrations of these receptors but no insulin receptors. In addition, physiological levels of IGF-I, but not insulin, stimulated DNA synthesis in growth-arrested cells. IGF-I stimulated within 1 min of tyrosine phosphorylation of two proteins. One of them, with a molecular mass between 97 and 102 kDa, was supposed to be the beta-subunit of the type I IGF receptor previously identified. The other protein had an approximate molecular mass of 185 kDa, which resembled, by several criteria, pp 185, originally identified during the initial response of Fao cells to insulin binding (White, M. F., Maron, R., and Kahn, C. R. (1985) Nature 318, 183-186). These data suggest that tyrosine phosphorylation of pp 185 may occur during activation of both the type I IGF receptor and the insulin receptor, and it could be a common substrate that transmits important metabolic signals during ligand binding.
We studied the phosphorylation of the beta subunit of the insulin receptor in intact freshly isolated rat hepatocytes, labelled with [32P]Pi. Insulin receptors partially purified by wheat-germ agglutinin chromatography were immunoprecipitated with either antibodies to insulin receptor or antibodies to phosphotyrosine. Receptors derived from cells incubated in the absence of insulin contained only phosphoserine. Addition of insulin to hepatocytes led to a dose-dependent increase in receptor beta-subunit phosphorylation, with half-maximal stimulation being observed at 2 nM-insulin. Incubation of cells with 100 nM-insulin showed that, within 1 min of exposure to the hormone, maximal receptor phosphorylation occurred, which was followed by a slight decrease and then a plateau. This insulin-induced stimulation of its receptor phosphorylation was largely accounted for by phosphorylation on tyrosine residues. Sequential immunoprecipitation of receptor with anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies and with anti-receptor antibodies, and phosphoamino acid analysis of the immunoprecipitated receptors, revealed that receptors that failed to undergo tyrosine phosphorylation were phosphorylated on serine residues. The demonstration of a functional hormone-sensitive insulin-receptor kinase in normal cells strongly supports a role for this receptor enzymic activity in mediating biological effects of insulin.
Various glycolytic and gluconeogenic enzymes were tested as substrates for the insulin receptor kinase. Phosphofructokinase and phosphoglycerate mutase were found to be the best substrates. Phosphorylation of these enzymes was rapid, stimulated 2- to 6-fold by 10(-7) M insulin and occurred exclusively on tyrosine residues. Enolase, fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase, lactate dehydrogenases in decreasing order, were also subject to insulin-stimulated phosphorylation but to a smaller extent than that for phosphofructokinase or phosphoglycerate mutase. The phosphorylation of phosphofructokinase was studied most extensively since phosphofructokinase is known to catalyze a rate-limiting step in glycolysis. The apparent Km of the insulin receptor for phosphofructokinase was 0.1 microM, which is within the physiologic range of concentration of this enzyme in most cells. Tyrosine phosphorylation of phosphofructokinase paralleled autophosphorylation of the beta-subunit of the insulin receptor with respect to time course, insulin dose response (half maximal effect between 10(-9) and 10(-8) M insulin), and cation requirement (Mn2+ greater than Mg2+ much greater than Ca2+). Further study will be required to determine whether the tyrosine phosphorylation of phosphofructokinase plays a role in insulin-stimulated increases in glycolytic flux.
It is speculated that the transmission of an insulin signal across the plasma membrane of cells occurs through activation of the tyrosine-specific receptor kinase, autophosphorylation of the receptor, and subsequent phosphorylation of unidentified substrates in the cell. In an attempt to identify possible substrates, we labeled intact rat fat cells with [32P]orthophosphate and used an antiphosphotyrosine antibody to identify proteins that become phosphorylated on tyrosine residues in an insulin-stimulated way. In the membrane fraction of the fat cells, we found, in addition to the 95-kDa beta-subunit of the receptor, a 46-kDa phosphoprotein that is phosphorylated exclusively on tyrosine residues. This protein is not immunoprecipitated by antibodies against different regions of the insulin receptor and its HPLC tryptic peptide map is different from the tryptic peptide map of the insulin receptor, suggesting that it is not derived from the receptor beta-subunit. Insulin stimulates the tyrosine phosphorylation of the 46-kDa protein within 150 sec in the intact cell 3- to 4-fold in a dose-dependent way at insulin concentrations between 0.5 nM and 100 nM. The insulin effect starts after 30 sec, is maximal at 150 sec, and declines to almost basal values by 5 min. Furthermore, the antiphosphotyrosine antibody precipitated at least five proteins in the soluble fraction of the fat cell. Insulin (0.5 nM, 100 nM) stimulated within 2 min the 32P incorporation into a 116-kDa band, a 62-kDa band, and three bands between 45 kDa and 50 kDa 2- to 10-fold. We suggest that the 46-kDa membrane protein and possibly also the soluble proteins are endogenous substrates of the receptor tyrosine kinase in fat cells and that their phosphorylation is an early step in insulin signal transmission.
Epidermal growth factor (EGF) rapidly stimulates receptor autophosphorylation in A-431 cells. After 1 min the phosphorylated receptor can be identified at the plasma membrane using an anti-phosphotyrosine antibody. With further incubation at 37 degrees C, approximately 50% of the phosphorylated EGF receptor was internalized (t1/2 = 5 min) and associated with the tubulovesicular system and later with multivesicular bodies, but not the nucleus. During this period, there was no change in the extent or sites of phosphorylation. At all times the phosphotyrosine remained on the cytoplasmic side of the membrane, opposite to the EGF ligand identified by anti-EGF antibody. These data indicate that (a) the tyrosine-phosphorylated EGF receptor is internalized in its activated form providing a mechanism for translocation of the receptor kinase to substrates in the cell interior; (b) the internalized receptor remains intact for at least 60 min, does not associate with the nucleus, and does not generate any tyrosine-phosphorylated fragments; and (c) tyrosine phosphorylation alone is not the signal for receptor internalization.
Insulin resistance is observed in insulin-deficient diabetic states in spite of an increase in insulin binding to its target cells. To characterize this type of insulin resistance, autophosphorylation and kinase activity of the insulin receptor on liver was studied with streptozotocin (STZ)-induced and BB diabetic rats. Insulin binding capacity was increased in proportion to the severity of the diabetic state in the STZ rat. In the diabetic BB rat, the insulin binding capacity was also increased, and this was partially normalized by insulin treatment. By contrast, insulin-stimulated autophosphorylation of the beta-subunit of the insulin receptor was decreased in proportion to the severity of the diabetic state in the STZ rat. Peptide mapping by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography revealed a decrease in labeling at all sites of autophosphorylation. Kinase activity of the insulin receptor to exogenous substrates was also decreased in proportion to the diabetic state. In the BB rat, autophosphorylation and kinase activity of the insulin receptor were both decreased in the diabetic state and partially normalized by insulin treatment. In addition to the beta-subunit of insulin receptor, a 170 kdalton phosphotyrosine-containing protein was also identified in the glycoprotein fraction of liver. Although the phosphorylation of this protein was not insulin dependent, it was decreased markedly in the diabetic state. This protein is immunologically distinct from the insulin receptor, but is rich in phosphotyrosine. Based on its size and phosphotyrosine content, this protein may be the epidermal growth factor receptor.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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Phosphorylation of the insulin receptor was studied in intact well differentiated hepatoma cells (Fao) and in a solubilized and partially purified receptor preparation obtained from these cells by affinity chromatography on wheat germ agglutinin agarose. Tryptic peptides containing the phosphorylation sites of the beta-subunit of the insulin receptor were analyzed by reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography. Phosphoamino acid content of these peptides was determined by acid hydrolysis and high voltage electrophoresis. Separation of the phosphopeptides from unstimulated Fao cells revealed one major and two minor phosphoserine-containing peptides and a single minor phosphothreonine-containing peptide. Insulin (10(-7) M) increased the phosphorylation of the beta-subunit of the insulin receptor 3- to 4-fold in the intact Fao cell. After insulin stimulation, two phosphotyrosine-containing peptides were identified. Tyrosine phosphorylation reached a steady state within 20 s after the addition of insulin and remained nearly constant for 1 h. Under our experimental conditions, no significant change in the amount of [32P]phosphoserine or [32P]phosphothreonine associated with the beta-subunit was found during the initial response of cells to insulin. When the insulin receptor was extracted from the Fao cells and incubated in vitro with [gamma-32P]ATP and Mn2+, very little phosphorylation occurred in the absence of insulin. In this preparation, insulin rapidly stimulated autophosphorylation of the receptor on tyrosine residues only and high performance liquid chromatography analysis of the beta-subunit digested with trypsin revealed one minor and two major phosphopeptides. The elution position of the minor peptide corresponded to that of the major phosphotyrosine-containing peptide obtained from the beta-subunit of the insulin-stimulated receptor labeled in vivo. In contrast, the elution position of one of the major phosphopeptides that occurred during in vitro phosphorylation corresponded to the minor phosphotyrosine-containing peptide phosphorylated in vivo. The other major in vitro phosphotyrosine-containing peptide was not detected in vivo. Our results indicate that: tyrosine phosphorylation of the insulin receptor occurs rapidly following insulin binding to intact cells; the level of tyrosine phosphorylation remains constant for up to 1 h; the specificity of the receptor kinase or accessibility of the phosphorylation sites are different in vivo and in vitro.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Anti-phosphotyrosine antibody and anti-insulin receptor antibody were used to study insulin-stimulated phosphorylation of the beta-subunit of the insulin receptor in [32P]orthophosphate-labeled Fao hepatoma cells. Without insulin, the receptor contained both phosphoserine and phosphothreonine and could be immunoprecipitated with anti-receptor antibody but not with the anti-phosphotyrosine antibody. After incubation of these cells with insulin, both antibodies immunoprecipitated the phosphorylated receptor. The beta-subunit of the receptor precipitated with anti-phosphotyrosine antibody from cells stimulated with insulin (100 nM) for 1 min contained predominantly phosphotyrosine, whereas, after 10 min with insulin, the amounts of phosphotyrosine and phosphoserine were nearly equal. These results suggest that insulin-stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation preceded insulin-stimulated serine phosphorylation of the beta-subunit. Sequential immunoprecipitation of receptor with anti-phosphotyrosine antibody followed by precipitation of the remaining proteins with anti-receptor antibody suggests that insulin receptors which contain phosphoserine in the basal state are tyrosine phosphorylated more slowly than the dephosphorylated receptors or not at all after the addition of insulin. The beta-subunit of the insulin receptor was the major phosphorylated protein precipitated by the anti-phosphotyrosine antibody from insulin-stimulated Fao cells. These results confirm our notion that insulin initially stimulated tyrosine autophosphorylation and subsequently serine phosphorylation of the insulin receptor in intact cells and suggests that this sequence of reactions occurs faster on receptors that are dephosphorylated before the incubation with insulin.
Insulin causes rapid phosphorylation of the beta subunit (Mr = 95,000) of its receptor in broken cell preparations. This occurs on tyrosine residues and is due to activation of a protein kinase which is contained in the receptor itself. In the intact cell, insulin also stimulates the phosphorylation of the receptor and other cellular proteins on serine and threonine residues. In an attempt to find a protein that might link the receptor tyrosine kinase to these serine/threonine phosphorylation reactions, we have studied the interaction of a partially purified preparation of insulin receptor with purified preparations of serine/threonine kinases known to phosphorylate glycogen synthase. No insulin-dependent phosphorylation was observed when casein kinases I and II, phosphorylase kinase, or glycogen synthase kinase 3 was incubated in vitro with the insulin receptor. These kinases also failed to phosphorylate the receptor. By contrast, the insulin receptor kinase catalyzed the phosphorylation of the calmodulin-dependent kinase and addition of insulin in vitro resulted in a 40% increase in this phosphorylation. In the presence of calmodulin-dependent kinase and the insulin receptor kinase, insulin also stimulated the phosphorylation of calmodulin. Phosphoamino acid analysis showed an increase of phosphotyrosine content in both calmodulin and calmodulin-dependent protein kinase. These data suggest that the insulin receptor kinase may interact directly and specifically with the calmodulin-dependent kinase and calmodulin. Further studies will be required to determine if these phosphorylations modify the action of these regulatory proteins.