The Pleckstrin Homology (PH) Domain-Interacting Protein Couples the Insulin Receptor Substrate 1 PH Domain to Insulin Signaling Pathways Leading to Mitogenesis and GLUT4 Translocation

Abstract

Receptor-mediated tyrosine phosphorylation of the insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1) is required for the propagation of many of insulin's biological effects. The amino-terminal pleckstrin homology (PH) domain of IRS-1 plays a pivotal role in promoting insulin receptor (IR)-IRS-1 protein interactions. We have recently reported the isolation of a PH domain-interacting protein, PHIP, which selectively binds to the IRS-1 PH domain and is stably associated with IRS-1 in mammalian cells. Here we demonstrate that overexpression of PHIP in fibroblasts enhances insulin-induced transcriptional responses in a mitogen-activated protein kinase-dependent manner. In contrast, a dominant-negative mutant of PHIP (DN-PHIP) was shown to specifically block transcriptional and mitogenic signals elicited by insulin and not serum. In order to examine whether PHIP/IRS-1 complexes participate in the signal transduction pathway linking the IR to GLUT4 traffic in muscle cells, L6 myoblasts stably expressing a myc-tagged GLUT4 construct (L6GLUT4myc) were transfected with either wild-type or dominant-interfering forms of PHIP. Whereas insulin-dependent GLUT4myc membrane translocation was not affected by overexpression of PHIP, DN-PHIP caused a nearly complete inhibition of GLUT4 translocation, in a manner identical to that observed with a dominant-negative mutant of the p85 subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (Δp85). Furthermore, DN-PHIP markedly inhibited insulin-stimulated actin cytoskeletal reorganization, a process required for the productive incorporation of GLUT4 vesicles at the cell surface in L6 cells. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that PHIP represents a physiological protein ligand of the IRS-1 PH domain, which plays an important role in insulin receptor-mediated mitogenic and metabolic signal transduction.

We thank V. Sharma for help in preparing the manuscript.

This work was supported in part by a grant from the National Cancer Institute of Canada (to M.R.-A.) and a studentship from the Cancer Research Society and NCIC (to J.F.-F.). M.R.-A. is a scholar of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.