Selective Insulin Signaling Through a and B Insulin Receptors Regulates Transcription of Insulin and Glucokinase Genes in Pancreatic  Cells
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Molecular Cell, Vol. 7, 559±570, March, 2001, Copyright 2001 by Cell Press Selective Insulin Signaling through A and B Insulin Receptors Regulates Transcription of Insulin and Glucokinase Genes in Pancreatic  Cells Barbara Leibiger,*§ Ingo B. Leibiger,*§k ceptors as the primary target, include signaling via mito- Tilo Moede,* Sabine Kemper,* gen-activated protein (MAP) kinases and phosphoinosi- Rohit N. Kulkarni,² C. Ronald Kahn,² tol-3 kinase (PI3K). The insulin receptor (IR), the first Lina Moitoso de Vargas,³ and Per-Olof Berggren* step in these cascades, exists in two isoforms as a result *The Rolf Luft Center for Diabetes Research of alternative mRNA splicing of the 11th exon of the insulin Department of Molecular Medicine proreceptor transcript (Seino et al., 1989). The A type Karolinska Institutet (IR-A), or Ex11Ϫ (Ullrich et al., 1985), lacks whereas the S-171 76 Stockholm B type (IR-B), or Ex11ϩ (Ebina et al., 1985), contains Sweden the respective sequence coding for 12 amino acids in ² Research Division the C terminus of the ␣ chain of the receptor. To date, Joslin Diabetes Center and no insulin-induced effect has been reported that dis- Department of Medicine criminates signaling via A- and B-type receptors. In fact, Harvard Medical School the functional significance of these IR isoforms remains Boston, Massachusetts 02215 unclear. ³ Department of Medicine Recent studies have shown that the insulin-producing New England Medical Center and pancreatic  cell is a target for insulin action, with insulin Tufts University School of Medicine effects on transcription, translation, Ca2ϩ flux, and exo- Boston, Massachusetts 02111 cytosis (Leibiger et al., 1998a, 2000; Xu and Rothenberg, 1998; Xu et al., 1998; Aspinwall et al., 1999; Kulkarni et al., 1999a). In an animal model with a  cell±specific Summary knockout for IR, there is a decrease in glucose-stimu- lated insulin release and a decrease in the insulin content Insulin signaling is mediated by a complex network of of the cell (Kulkarni et al., 1999a). In addition, disruption diverging and converging pathways, with alternative of insulin signaling in the  cell at the level of insulin proteins and isoforms at almost every step in the pro- receptor substrate (IRS)-1 (Kulkarni et al., 1999b) or cess. We show here that insulin activates the tran- IRS-2 (Withers et al., 1998) leads to altered growth and scription of its own gene and that of the  cell glucoki- function of the  cell. Consequently, insulin resistance nase gene (GK) by different mechanisms. Whereas may not only affect the function of the ªclassicalº insulin insulin gene transcription is promoted by signaling target tissues muscle, fat and liver, but also apply to through insulin receptor A type (Ex11Ϫ), PI3K class the pancreatic  cell and thereby affect  cell function. Ia, and p70s6k, insulin stimulates the GK gene by In the present study, we show selective insulin signal- signaling via insulin receptor B type (Ex11ϩ), PI3K ing via the two isoforms of the insulin receptor (i.e., IR-A class II±like activity, and PKB (c-Akt). Our data provide and IR-B) in the pancreatic  cell. Insulin that is secreted evidence for selectivity in insulin action via the two by  cells upon glucose stimulation up-regulates tran- isoforms of the insulin receptor, the molecular basis scription of its own gene as well as that of the  cell being preferential signaling through different PI3K and transcription unit of the glucokinase (GK) gene in an protein kinases. autocrine feedback loop. More interestingly, while the insulin gene is activated by insulin signaling via IR-A Introduction involving PI3K class Ia, p70 s6 kinase (p70s6k), and Ca2ϩ/calmodulin dependent kinases, insulin-stimulated Understanding selectivity in signal transduction is one GK transcription occurs via IR-B, PI3K class II±like of the most challenging tasks in current cell biology. activity, and protein kinase B (PKB/c-Akt). These results Over the years, insulin signaling has served as one of provide evidence that signaling via either IR-A or IR-B the model examples in hormone-induced signal trans- and the subsequent activation of different classes of duction. Malfunction of insulin signaling, referred to as PI3K and protein kinases (i.e., p70s6k and PKB) repre- insulin resistance, is one of the major causes of type 2 sent a mechanism for selective insulin action. We fur- diabetes mellitus (non-insulin-dependent diabetes mel- thermore show a preferential activation of p70s6k and litus), the most common metabolic disorder in man. PKB as a result of insulin signaling via IR-A and IR-B, Insulin has been shown to exhibit pleiotropic effects respectively, in insulin-producing and non-insulin-pro- involving mitogenic and/or metabolic events. Moreover, ducing cells. the effect of insulin is tissue as well as development dependent. The fact that insulin may transduce its signal Results and Discussion through a variety of pathways has been discussed in extensive detail (White and Kahn, 1994). The two major Glucose Activates Glucokinase Gene Transcription pathways described to date, which employ insulin re- via Secreted Insulin Insulin, secreted upon glucose stimulation, is a key fac- k To whom correspondence should be addressed (e-mail: ingo@ tor in the up-regulation of insulin gene transcription (Lei- enk.ks.se). biger et al., 1998a). The promoters of both the insulin §These authors contributed equally to this work. gene and the GK gene contain many similar cis ele- Molecular Cell 560 ments (Shelton et al., 1992; Leibiger et al., 1994a, 1994b; insulin gene, the addition of 20 U per ml was required to Watada et al., 1996). To test whether transcription of gain an effect on GK promoter activation (Figure 2E). GK is regulated by similar mechanisms as the insulin Stimulation with 5 mU of insulin per ml of culture medium gene, we studied the role of glucose and insulin in regu- for 5 min led to an GK promoter±driven increase in lation of GK mRNA steady-state levels. Stimulation of GFP fluorescence in isolated primary pancreatic  cells cultured islets (Figure 1A) or insulin-producing HIT-T15 (Figure 2C), HIT cells, and intact pancreatic islets (data cells with 16.7 mM glucose led to an increase in GK not shown). mRNA levels 60 min following start of stimulation. This is Thus, our data support the view that the insulin gene similar in time course to the effect of glucose to stimulate and the GK gene are both stimulated by insulin se- insulin mRNA levels (Leibiger et al., 1998a, 1998b). creted in response to glucose. Interestingly, a higher To define in more detail the dynamics of GK mRNA, concentration of insulin is needed to activate GK tran- we analyzed the half-life time, stability, and transcrip- scription when compared with the insulin gene. tional rate of the GK mRNA pool. As shown in Figure ف  1B, the half-life time of GK mRNA was 60 min and Insulin-Stimulated Glucokinase Gene Transcription was not changed in the presence or absence of glucose. Utilizes Signal Transduction, which Is Different On the other hand, stimulation of HIT cells with 16.7 mM from that of the Insulin Gene  glucose led to an increase in GK gene transcripts as Our studies on insulin-stimulated insulin gene transcrip- early as 15 min and reached a maximum of transcrip- tion have shown the involvement of PI3K, p70s6k, and tional activity at 30 min in a nuclear run-off assay (Figure Ca2ϩ/calmodulin-dependent kinase(s) in the signaling  1C). This effect of glucose on GK transcription initiation cascade (Leibiger et al., 1998a). Because previous data was also observed in normal pancreatic islets (Figure from others and our laboratory suggest that insulin- and 1D). To further corroborate these data, we established GK-promoters can bind the same transcription factors  a reporter gene assay using the GK promoter coupled (Shelton et al., 1992; Leibiger et al., 1994a, 1994b; Wa-  to the green fluorescent protein (GFP) (pr GK.GFP). We tada et al., 1996) and both genes respond positively to  used the rat GK promoter fragment up to nucleotide many of the same stimuli (glucose, insulin, secreta- Ϫ 278, since this has been shown to contain all cis ele- gogs) at the level of transcription, we questioned whether ments responsible for both glucose-dependent and cell- both genes might be regulated by the same signaling type-specific transcriptional control (Jetton et al., 1994, pathway. 1998). Stimulation with 16.7 mM glucose led to an in- To test whether the same protein kinases that are crease in GK promoter±driven GFP fluorescence in HIT involved in insulin-triggered insulin gene transcription cells, isolated primary pancreatic  cells, and intact pan- contribute to insulin-triggered transcription of GK, we creatic islets (Figure 1E). As with the nuclear run-off studied the effect of pharmacological inhibitors on insu- assay, the dynamics of the activation of GK promoter± lin-stimulated GK promoter activity (Figure 3). We com- driven GFP expression were similar, if not identical, to bined insulin stimulation (5 mU/ml for 5 min at substimu- those of the glucose-stimulated insulin gene promoter latory glucose concentrations) with the cotreatment of (Leibiger et al., 1998a, 1998b). islet cells and HIT cells with inhibitors of protein kinase To determine whether glucose metabolism per se or C (PKC; 150 nM bisindolylmalemide I [BIM]), PI3K (25 secreted insulin is a requirement for the up-regulation M LY294002 [LY]), p70s6k (10 nM rapamycin [rap]), of GK transcription, we investigated the effect of insulin MAP kinases Erk1/2 (20 M PD98059 [PD9]) and p38/ secretagogues on GK mRNA steady-state levels and RK/SAPK2a ϩ SAPK1/JNK (10 M PD169316 [PD1]), IR GK promoter±driven GFP expression.