Pvhl Is a Regulator of Glucose Metabolism and Insulin Secretion in Pancreatic  Cells
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Downloaded from genesdev.cshlp.org on October 6, 2021 - Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press pVHL is a regulator of glucose metabolism and insulin secretion in pancreatic  cells Jens Zehetner,1 Carsten Danzer,1,5 Stephan Collins,2,5 Katrin Eckhardt,1 Philipp A. Gerber,1 Pia Ballschmieter,1 Juris Galvanovskis,2 Kenju Shimomura,3 Frances M. Ashcroft,3 Bernard Thorens,4 Patrik Rorsman,2 and Wilhelm Krek1,6 1Institute of Cell Biology and Competence Center for Systems Physiology and Metabolic Diseases, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland; 2Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism, Churchill Hospital, Oxford OX3 7LJ, United Kingdom; 3Henry Wellcome Centre for Gene Function, Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PT, United Kingdom; 4Department of Physiology and Center for Integrative Genomics, University Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland Insulin secretion from pancreatic  cells is stimulated by glucose metabolism. However, the relative importance of metabolizing glucose via mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation versus glycolysis for insulin secretion remains unclear. von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) tumor suppressor protein, pVHL, negatively regulates hypoxia-inducible factor HIF1␣, a transcription factor implicated in promoting a glycolytic form of metabolism. Here we report a central role for the pVHL–HIF1␣ pathway in the control of -cell glucose utilization, insulin secretion, and glucose homeostasis. Conditional inactivation of Vhlh in  cells promoted a diversion of glucose away from mitochondria into lactate production, causing cells to produce high levels of glycolytically derived ATP and to secrete elevated levels of insulin at low glucose concentrations. Vhlh-deficient mice exhibited diminished glucose-stimulated changes in cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration, electrical activity, and insulin secretion, which culminate in impaired systemic glucose tolerance. Importantly, combined deletion of Vhlh and Hif1␣ rescued these phenotypes, implying that they are the result of HIF1␣ activation. Together, these results identify pVHL and HIF1␣ as key regulators of insulin secretion from pancreatic  cells. They further suggest that changes in the metabolic strategy of glucose metabolism in  cells have profound effects on whole-body glucose homeostasis. [Keywords: HIF; VHL; glucose intolerance; islet; pancreas] Supplemental material is available at http://www.genesdev.org. Received July 14, 2008; revised version accepted September 5, 2008. During adulthood, cell type-specific growth that exceeds oxygen supply provided by the vasculature. An immedi- the normal physiological constraints is a common fea- ate consequence of decreased tissue oxygen availability ture of adaptive processes of tissues to changes in meta- is that cells shift cellular fuel metabolism from mito- bolic homeostasis and underlies the development of chondrial respiration to glycolysis and activate an angio- many human diseases, including cancer, heart disease, genic program to increase oxygen delivery in order to and diabetes (De Boer et al. 2003; Bouwens and Rooman overcome the imbalance between tissue mass and vas- 2005). Adaptive cell mass expansion, whether neoplastic cularization (Semenza 2001; Brahimi-Horn et al. 2007). or nonneoplastic, creates a requirement for compensa- In this way, tissue function is supported and further tory neovascularization to supply oxygen, metabolic mass expansion can occur. substances, and growth/survival factors to the growing At the molecular level, the central regulators of the tissue (Marti 2005). Therefore, adaptive cell growth re- cellular response to low-oxygen availability are the hyp- sponses are generally accompanied, at least initially, by oxia-inducible transcription factors (HIF). HIF are het- relative states of hypoxia as a result of a mismatch be- erodimeric transcription factors composed of HIF1␣, tween oxygen demand caused by tissue expansion and HIF2␣, or HIF3␣ (collectively HIF␣) and HIF/ARNT (Aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator) sub- units. While the latter is constitutively expressed and stable, HIF␣ subunits are rapidly degraded under nor- 5These authors contributed equally to this work. moxia due to prolylhydroxylase activity, which marks 6Corresponding author. E-MAIL [email protected]; FAX 41-44-633-1357. them for recognition by the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) Article is online at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.496908. tumor suppressor ubiquitin ligase complex, targeting GENES & DEVELOPMENT 22:3135–3146 © 2008 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press ISSN 0890-9369/08; www.genesdev.org 3135 Downloaded from genesdev.cshlp.org on October 6, 2021 - Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press Zehetner et al. them for ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation mouse models in which the Vhlh and Hif1␣ genes are (Schofield and Ratcliffe 2004). Hypoxia leads to a stabi- conditionally inactivated (singly or in combination) in  lization of HIF␣, dimerization with constitutively ex- cells. Our results suggest that HIF1␣ activation mediates pressed HIF/ARNT subunits, and the activation of hyp- metabolic reprogramming of  cells to a glycolytic form oxia-inducible genes, whose products play key roles in of ATP production, causing a switch from regulated to the regulation of diverse processes including angiogene- constitutive increased basal and impaired glucose-stimu- sis, glucose uptake, and the conversion of cellular me- lated insulin secretion, hallmarks of type 2 diabetes. tabolism from a mitochondrial oxidative toward a glyco- lytic form of ATP production (Fantin et al. 2006; Kim et al. 2006; Papandreou et al. 2006). There is evidence to Results suggest that HIF1␣ preferentially activates genes impor- tant for glycolysis, while HIF2␣ favors genes involved in Deletion of Vhlh leads to the accumulation angiogenesis (Hu et al. 2003; Rankin et al. 2008). Finally, of transcriptionally active HIF1␣ in  cells in addition to the well-established activation of HIF␣ in response to oxygen availability, there is accumulating The mRNAs of Vhlh and Hif1␣ are highly enriched in evidence for hypoxia-independent mechanisms of HIF1␣ islets of wild-type (wt) mice (hereafter referred to as con- expression. For example, high levels of HIF1␣ expression trol) compared with total pancreas as evidenced by real- have been observed under well-oxygenated conditions in time PCR analysis (Fig. 1A). Also, the heterodimeriza- response to growth factor stimulation (Hellwig-Burgel et tion partner of Hif1␣, Hif1/ARNT, is expressed in pan- al. 2005). Growth factor-mediated up-regulation of creatic  cells (Supplemental Fig. S1). In addition, HIF1␣ expression has been implicated to promote glu- confocal immunofluorescence (IF) microscopy demon- cose uptake and a form of metabolism that is referred to strated that pVHL colocalizes predominantly with the as “aerobic glycolysis” to better meet the bioenergetic insulin-producing  cells (Fig. 1B). ARNT colocalizes as needs associated with growth and proliferation (Lum et well with  cells (Supplemental Fig. S1). Thus, Vhlh, al. 2007). Hif1␣, and Arnt are principally expressed in mouse is- Pancreatic  cells display significant plasticity in re- lets. To investigate the physiological effects of Vhlh de- sponse to changes in metabolic homeostasis (Bouwens and letion in pancreatic  cells, mice with a loxP-flanked Rooman 2005). The mass of  cells is known to increase Vhlh allele were crossed to Rip2-Cre transgenic mice during pregnancy, to compensate for the increased meta- carrying the Cre-recombinase under the rat insulin pro- bolic load of a developing fetus (Van Assche et al. 1978), moter (Herrera 2000). This transgene induces Cre-medi- and in nondiabetic obese individuals, as part of an adap- ated recombination specifically in pancreatic  cells. De- tive response to increased metabolic load and obesity- letion of Vhlh in pancreatic islets of Rip2-Cre; Vhlhfl/fl associated insulin resistance (Prentki and Nolan 2006), mice (hereafter referred to as Vhlh−/−) was confirmed by thereby maintaining a balance between metabolic de- PCR-mediated detection of the recombined Vhlh allele, mand and insulin supply. Conversely, when  cells fail as identical sized bands were generated by these PCR to respond to the body’s insulin demand, type 2 diabetes reactions as from kidney DNA derived from a kidney- results (Rhodes 2005). Thus, adaptive changes in func- specific Vhlh−/− mouse model (Fig. 1C; Frew et al. 2008). tional -cell mass is key to maintaining systemic eugly- Immunohistochemical analysis of islets of 26-wk-old cemia. Vhlh−/− mice revealed strong nuclear accumulation of In this regard, gene expression analysis of prediabetic HIF1␣ (Fig. 1D, insert). High levels of the HIF␣ target and diabetic Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats, which protein glucose transporter 1 (SLC2A1; also referred to as carry a mutation in the leptin receptor gene and serve as GLUT1) were also observed (Fig. 1D). Neither the overall a model for -cell mass adaptation and decompensation morphology nor staining for insulin or glucagon was de- during progression of type 2 diabetes, revealed that cer- tectably affected by deletion of Vhlh (Fig. 1D). Immuno- tain hypoxia-inducible target genes become activated at blotting of purified islets of Vhlh−/− mice confirmed that the prediabetic stage, coinciding with adaptive -cell Vhlh was efficiently deleted and that HIF1␣ and SLC2A1 mass expansion (Li et al. 2006). The hypoxia-inducible