SAD-A Potentiates Glucose-Stimulated Insulin Secretion as a Mediator of Glucagon-Like Peptide 1 Response in Pancreatic β Cells

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes is characterized by defective glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) from pancreatic β cells, which can be restored by glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), an incretin hormone commonly used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. However, molecular mechanisms by which GLP-1 affects glucose responsiveness in islet β cells remain poorly understood. Here we investigated a role of SAD-A, an AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)-related kinase, in regulating GSIS in mice with conditional SAD-A deletion. We show that selective deletion of SAD-A in pancreas impaired incretin's effect on GSIS, leading to glucose intolerance. Conversely, overexpression of SAD-A significantly enhanced GSIS and further potentiated GLP-1's effect on GSIS from isolated mouse islets. In support of SAD-A as a mediator of incretin response, SAD-A is expressed exclusively in pancreas and brain, the primary targeting tissues of GLP-1 action. Additionally, SAD-A kinase is activated in response to stimulation by GLP-1 through cyclic AMP (cAMP)/Ca²⁺-dependent signaling pathways in islet β cells. Furthermore, we identified Thr443 as a key autoinhibitory phosphorylation site which mediates SAD-A's effect on incretin response in islet β cells. Consequently, ablation of Thr443 significantly enhanced GLP-1's effect on GSIS from isolated mouse islets. Together, these findings identified SAD-A kinase as a pancreas-specific mediator of incretin response in islet β cells.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Nicolai Doliba and Franz Matschinsky for technical help with islet perifusion, Junichi Miyazaki for the MIN-6 cells, Chris Newgard for INS-1 cells, and Chris Rhodes for critically reading the manuscript.

This study was supported in part by grants from the NIH (DK076685, to Y.S., and NINDS, to J.R.S.) and the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2011CB504003, to X.H.).

We declare no financial conflict of interest.