G Protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 (GRK2): A novel modulator of insulin resistance

Abstract

G protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 (GRK2) is emerging as a key, integrative node in many signalling pathways. Besides its canonical role in the modulation of the signalling mediated by many G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR), this protein can display a very complex network of functional interactions with a variety of signal transduction partners, in a stimulus, cell type, or context-specific way. We review herein recent data showing that GRK2 can regulate insulin-triggered transduction cascades at different levels and that this protein plays a relevant role in insulin resistance and obesity in vivo, what uncovers GRK2 as a potential therapeutic target in the treatment of these disorders.

Key words::

• G protein-coupled receptors
• arrestin
• diabetes
• obesity

Acknowledgements

Our laboratory is funded by grants from Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia of Spain (SAF2008-00552 to FM and BFU2008-04043 to SFV), Fundación Ramón Areces and The Cardiovascular Network (RECAVA) of Ministerio Sanidad y Consumo-Instituto Carlos III (RD06-0014/0037 and PS09/01208 to CM. SFV is supported by a fellowship from the Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (FIS) “Miguel Servet” CP10/00438.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.