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agonists) but not PPAR
agonists increase IRS-2 gene expression in 3T3-L1 and human adipocytes1
The Lundberg Laboratory for Diabetes Research, Department of Internal Medicine, Goteborg University, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, S-413 45 Goteborg, Sweden
2Correspondence: The Lundberg Laboratory for Diabetes Research, Department of Internal Medicine, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Guldhetsgatan, Gothenburg S-413 45 Goteborg, Sweden. E-mail. ulf.smith{at}medic.gu.se
| ABSTRACT |
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agonists and was not seen with PPAR
agonists.
It was rapidly induced (within 4 h) and maintained throughout the
observation period of 48 h. It was also concentration dependent
(EC50
50 nM) and not inhibited by cycloheximide,
suggesting a direct effect on the IRS-2 promoter. There was no evidence
that TZD altered IRS-2 mRNA stability, supporting that the increased
mRNA levels were due to an increased gene transcription. IRS-2 protein
expression was increased
30% after 48 h and
50% after
96 h. No effects of TZD were seen on IRS-1, PKB/Akt, or GLUT4 gene
expression. TZD also increased IRS-2 mRNA levels in cultured human
adipose tissue. These data show the first direct link between TZD and a
critical molecule in insulins signaling cascade in both 3T3-L1 and
human adipocytes, and indicate a novel mode of action of these
compounds.Smith, U., Gogg, S., Johansson, A., Olausson, T., Rotter,
V., Svalstedt, B. Thiazolidinediones (PPAR
agonists) but not PPAR
agonists increase IRS-2 gene expression in 3T3-L1 and human adipocytes.
Key Words: insulin signaling insulin action gene transcription IRS-2 PPAR
| INTRODUCTION |
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TZD promote fat cell differentiation and activate several
adipocyte-specific genes such as the fatty acid binding protein aP2 as
well as the lipoprotein lipase (6
, 7)
. There is much
recent evidence that TZD induce their diverse effects by binding to and
activating the peroxisome proliferator activated receptor (PPAR)
(reviewed in ref 7
). PPAR
is mainly expressed in the
adipose tissue and exists as two isoforms: PPAR
1 and
2. PPAR
1
is the major isoform and accounts for around 85% of that in the
adipose tissue. The isoforms differ in their
NH2-terminal end, with PPAR
2 having an
additional 30 amino acids, and are generated from the same gene by mRNA
splicing (8)
.
It is currently unclear how TZD improve insulin sensitivity since known
PPAR
-regulated genes mainly involve adipocyte differentiation, lipid
storage, and metabolism (reviewed in ref 7
).
Current hypotheses of the mechanisms for the direct insulin-sensitizing
effect of TZD include the formation of new, small, and
insulin-sensitive fat cells (9)
; the inhibition of TNF-
production and, hence, its negative effects on insulin signaling
(10)
; or, as found in some experiments, increased GLUT4
expression in adipocytes (11)
, although this requires
activation of C/EBP
as well (12)
. However, no clear and
reproducible link to the intracellular signaling molecules for insulin
has been found. Ribon et al. (13)
reported a potential
link in that TZD were found to increase the gene and protein expression
of CAP, a c-Cbl-associated protein that may be involved in the
regulation of the tyrosine phosphorylation of c-Cbl by the insulin
receptor. c-Cbl, in turn, can interact with the kinase fyn to initiate
phosphorylation of caveolin and other sequestered proteins
(14)
.
In the present study, we examined in differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes
the effect of PPAR
and
ligands on the expression of several key
molecules for insulin signaling and action: IRS-1, IRS-2, PKB/Akt, and
GLUT4. The only gene that was rapidly and reproducibly increased was
IRS-2, which was associated with increased protein expression. We also
found an increased IRS-2 mRNA expression in human adipose tissue
cultured for 24 h with TZD.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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|
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To examine whether protein synthesis was required for the effect of TZD on gene transcription, 40 µM cycloheximide was present for 8 and 24 h prior to harvesting cells. Furthermore, RNA stability was examined by treating differentiated 3T3-L1 cells with 4 µM actinomycin D, with or without 10 µM pioglitazone, for up to 24 h. Cells were harvested after 2, 4, 6, 12, and 24 h, RNA was extracted, and mRNA for IRS-2 was measured.
In three experiments, small explants (
20 mg each) of human
subcutaneous adipose tissue (total amount
1 g) were cultured for
24 h in medium 199 containing 5.6 mM glucose, 4% human serum
albumin, with or without 10 µM pioglitazone. The tissue culture
procedure used has been described in detail (17
18
19)
. Two
of the subjects were healthy and one individual had Type 2 diabetes
treated with an oral sulfonylurea (glibenclamide).
Analyses of RNA
Total cellular RNA was isolated from cells with guanidinium
thiocyanate, as described (20)
. Northern blot analyses
were performed on total cellular RNA (30 µg) with labeled cDNA probes
made against ß-actin as housekeeping gene, mouse IRS-1 (bp
13332335), mouse IRS-2 (bp 29873325) (kindly provided by Drs. J.
Pierce and L.-M Wang, NCI, NIH), rodent GLUT4 (bp 121-2128, accession
no. NM 001042, kindly provided by Dr. Sam W. Cushman, NIDDK, NIH), and
PKB/Akt using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) fragment against PKBß
(bp 282-1130, accession no. M95936) in a common sequence for PKB
,
PKBß, and PKB
. 5' Sequence CGAGAGGCCGCGACCCAACAC and 3' sequence
AGGCGGCCGCACATCATCTCGTA were used as PCR primers.
Immunoprecipitations and immunoblotting
Cell lysates were prepared as described (16)
. Equal
amounts of protein were separated by sodium dodecyl
sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, transferred, and
immunoblotted with appropriate antibodies against the specific
proteins. Phosphotyrosines were immunoblotted with antibody PY99
(Transduction Laboratories, Lexington, Ky.), GLUT4 with an antibody
kindly provided by Dr. Sam W. Cushman (NIDDK, NIH), IRS-1 and IRS-2
with antibodies from Upstate Biotechnology (Lake Placid, N.Y.), and
PKB/Akt with antibodies from Biolab (Boston, Mass.).
Immunoprecipitations were performed as described (16)
;
individual proteins were detected by blotting with horseradish
peroxidase-linked secondary antibodies and using enhanced
chemiluminescence (Amersham, Amersham, U.K.).
| RESULTS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
7.2 kb band,
but a minor band at
8.2 kb was seen frequently. It is not clear
whether this represents alternative splicing of the same gene.
Figure 1A
(top) shows that insulin alone did not change IRS-2 gene
expression whereas the addition of pioglitazone increased IRS-2 mRNA
fourfold. This was due to an effect of pioglitazone alone, and no
further increase was seen by the addition of insulin (Fig. 1A
, bottom). After 48 h, the IRS-2 mRNA levels were
consistently increased three- to fivefold relative to ß-actin mRNA
(Fig. 1B
, top). IRS-2 protein expression was also increased
by pio but not changed by insulin (Fig. 1B
, bottom). The
average increase seen after 48 h with pio was
30%
(n=3) whereas IRS-2 was increased
50% after 96 h.
Figure 1B
(bottom) also shows the mobility shift in IRS-2
after acute stimulation (10 min) with 100 nM insulin of cells that had
been serum-starved for 3 h.
|
Time course experiments showed that the gene expression was already
increased after 4 h, peaked after 24 h, but remained elevated
throughout the 48 h observation time (Fig. 1C
). This
increase was specific for IRS-2 and remained whether the IRS-2
expression was related to ß-actin, IRS-1, or PKB mRNA levels (data
not shown). We also examined whether the rapid effect of pio was direct
or required protein synthesis by adding cycloheximide (40 µM) to the
incubation medium for 8 and 24 h. However, pio also increased
IRS-2 mRNA expression in the presence of cycloheximide, suggesting a
direct effect of pio on the IRS-2 gene (not shown). We also verified
that IRS-2 mRNA stability was not altered by TZD, since incubating the
cultured cells with 4 µM actinomycin D for different time periods up
to 24 h did not prolong IRS-2 mRNA half-life whether or not 10
µM pio was present (data not shown). IRS-2 mRNA expression was also
increased
fivefold in human adipose tissue by pio (10 µM) after
24 h (Fig. 2
).
|
We also examined whether a lower pio concentration increased IRS-2 mRNA
expression in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. A similar effect was seen with 1 µM
pio (average increase 230%, n=2) as with 10 µM in the
same experiments (average increase 292%, n=2), and detailed
analysis showed that EC50 was
50 nM.
Darglitazone, another PPAR
ligand, induced a similar increase as
pioglitazone (Fig. 3
, top) whereas a specific PPAR
ligand (WY14643) was completely
without effect (average increase 9%, n=2), even at a high
concentration (10 µM) and when insulin was added (Fig. 3
, middle).
Thus, these data show that PPAR
, but not PPAR
, ligands increase
IRS-2 gene expression in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. We also tested whether
progesterone or 8-BrcAMP, which have been shown to increase IRS-2 gene
expression in HeLa cells (21)
, also altered the expression
in 3T3-L1 cells. However, no effects were seen even with high
concentrations of these agents. When combined, however, the stimulating
effect of pio was again shown (Fig. 3
, bottom).
|
Neither insulin alone or when combined with the PPAR
ligands
pioglitazone or darglitazone (not shown) altered the gene expression of
IRS-1 or of PKB/Akt (Fig. 4A
) in the same experiments. Similarly, no effect was seen
with the PPAR
agonist (data not shown). The PCR fragment used for
PKB hybridization gave two major bands (3.2 and 2.8 kb), probably
reflecting both the PKBß/Akt 2 gene as well as the expression of
another isoform. Individual results of IRS-1 mRNA expression from five
experiments are shown in Fig. 4B
.
|
Similar to IRS-1, there was no consistent increase in GLUT4 mRNA expression by pioglitazone after 48 h incubation (data not shown).
Effect of TZD and/or insulin on IRS-1 and PKB/Akt protein
expression
Figure. 4B
(bottom) shows the chronic effects of pio and/or insulin on IRS-1 protein
expression after 48 h. Pio alone did not change IRS-1 protein
expression. However, in contrast to IRS-2 (Fig. 1B
, bottom),
IRS-1 protein expression was reduced by chronic stimulation with the
high insulin concentration, and this was not altered by the presence of
pio (Fig. 4B
, bottom). In three experiments, insulin
decreased IRS-1 protein expression by 33% (range 2539%); this
decrease remained unchanged when insulin and pio were combined (-31%,
range 1839%) whereas pio alone was without effect (+7%).
Similar to the gene (Fig. 3A
), PKB/Akt protein expression
was also not changed by the presence of either pio and/or insulin for
48 h (not shown).
| DISCUSSION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
activation, but not PPAR
, rapidly turns on the gene of the
key signaling molecule IRS-2. This effect was initiated within 4 h, peaked after 24 h, and remained elevated throughout the 48 h study. Furthermore, this effect appeared specific since, under the
same conditions and in the same cells, we saw no effects on IRS-1,
PKB/Akt or GLUT4. Thus, it was not related to a general effect on cell
differentiation by the PPAR
ligands. In addition, IRS-2 protein
expression was also increased after both 48 and 96 h. Since the
IRS-2 gene activation was rapid and seen in the presence of the protein
synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide, the data suggest a direct effect of
PPAR
activation on the IRS-2 promoter. This possibility was also
supported by the finding that pio did not alter IRS-2 mRNA half-life.
Furthermore, EC50 was
50 nM and maximal effect
was seen at 1 µM, which is within the therapeutic plasma level
(unpublished observations). However, definitive proof requires direct
testing in appropriate reporter assays and such work is currently in
progress.
The (partial?) human IRS-2 gene and promoter were recently cloned and
sequenced (22)
, but the complete murine promoter has not
been reported. Progesterone and cAMP were found to increase the
expression of the IRS-2 gene in HeLa cells but GRE/PRE were not
identified in the promoter. Sequencing the promoter identified multiple
binding sites for several transcription factors such as Sp1, AP2, and
CCAAT box binding factor (22)
. However, the identified
sequence in the human IRS-2 promoter does not contain the typical
AGGTCA binding sites for PPAR (23)
. Studies with
appropriate reporter systems are necessary to clarify whether PPAR
ligands directly activate the IRS-2 gene. Pioglitazone also increased
IRS-2 gene expression in human primary adipocytes cultured for 24 h. This finding shows that TZD increase IRS-2 mRNA expression in both
murine and human adipocytes and that this effect is unrelated to any
action on adipocyte differentiation.
Insulin alone did not change the IRS-2 gene expression and there was no
synergistic effect between TZD and insulin. These latter data must be
interpreted with some caution since the serum in the culture medium
contains insulin. We saw no effect of either progesterone or cAMP on
IRS-2 gene expression in 3T3-L1 cells. This is in contrast to recent
data in HeLa cells where these agents increased IRS-2 mRNA levels
(21)
, but this may be an indirect effect (22)
and not seen in all cells.
Similar to IRS-2, chronic exposure to insulin did not change PKB/Akt or
IRS-1 gene expression. However, in contrast to IRS-2, IRS-1 protein
expression was reduced after chronic insulin stimulation in the 3T3-L1
cells, as also reported by others (24
, 25)
. This effect of
chronic marked hyperinsulinemia is therefore probably due to an
increased protein degradation. Recent studies have shown that chronic
exposure to insulin leads to an increased serine/threonine
phosphorylation through the PI3-kinase and PKB/Akt pathway
(24
25
26)
. IRS-1 is then degraded through the proteasomal
pathway probably as a result of ubiquination (25)
. The
addition of pioglitazone did not alter this effect of insulin.
In summary, the present data show for the first time a clear link
between PPAR
ligands and the insulin signaling cascade in that TZD
increase IRS-2 gene (and protein) expression in both 3T3-L1 cells and
human primary adipocytes. Since low IRS-2 appears to play a profound
role in the development of diabetes (27)
, these data
suggest that the antidiabetic effect of TZD may be mediated at least in
part through this effect. It will also be of great interest to see
whether TZD can influence ß cell growth and/or apoptosis, since a
stunning effect of IRS-2 gene disruption is seen in pancreatic ß cell
development (27)
. Thus, although IRS-2 can also be used by
insulin as a docking protein for PI3-kinase activation, it may play an
even more profound role in the signaling and effect of cytokines and
growth factors.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
|---|
| FOOTNOTES |
|---|
Received for publication February 3, 2000.
Revision received June 29, 2000.
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