Alkaline intracellular pH (pHi) activates AMPK-mTORC2 signaling to promote cell survival during growth factor limitation.

The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) complex 2 (mTORC2) signaling controls cell metabolism, promotes cell survival, and contributes to tumorigenesis, yet its upstream regulation remains poorly defined. Although considerable evidence supports the prevailing view that amino acids activate mTOR complex 1 but not mTORC2, several studies reported paradoxical activation of mTORC2 signaling by amino acids. We noted that after amino acid starvation of cells in culture, addition of an amino acid solution increased mTORC2 signaling. Interestingly, we found the pH of the amino acid solution to be alkaline, ∼pH 10. These observations led us to discover and demonstrate here that alkaline intracellular pH (pHi) represents a previously unknown activator of mTORC2. Using a fluorescent pH-sensitive dye (cSNARF1-AM) coupled with live-cell imaging, we demonstrate that culturing cells in media at an alkaline pH induces a rapid rise in the pHi, which increases mTORC2 catalytic activity and downstream signaling to the pro-growth and pro-survival kinase Akt. Alkaline pHi also activates AMPK, a canonical sensor of energetic stress. Functionally, alkaline pHi activates AMPK-mTOR signaling, which attenuates apoptosis caused by growth factor withdrawal. Collectively, these findings reveal that alkaline pHi increases mTORC2- and AMPK-mediated signaling to promote cell survival during conditions of growth factor limitation, analogous to the demonstrated ability of energetic stress to activate AMPK-mTORC2 and promote cell survival. As an elevated pHi represents an underappreciated hallmark of cancer cells, we propose that the alkaline pHi stress sensing by AMPK-mTORC2 may contribute to tumorigenesis by enabling cancer cells at the core of a growing tumor to evade apoptosis and survive.

Targeting of the "insulin-responsive" glucose transporter (GLUT4) to the regulated secretory pathway in PC12 cells.

Insulin-activated glucose transport depends on the efficient sorting of facilitated hexose transporter isoforms to distinct subcellular locales. GLUT4, the "insulin-responsive" glucose transporter, is sequestered intracellularly, redistributing to the cell surface only in the presence of hormone. To test the hypothesis that the biosynthesis of the insulin-responsive compartment is analogous to the targeting of proteins to the regulated secretory pathway, GLUT4 was expressed in the neuroendocrine cell line, PC12. Localization of the transporter in differentiated PC12 cells by indirect immunofluorescence revealed GLUT4 to be in the perinuclear region and in the distal processes. Although, by immunofluorescence microscopy, GLUT4 co-localized with the endosomal protein transferrin receptor and the small synaptic vesicle (SSV) marker protein synaptophysin, fractionation by velocity gradient centrifugation revealed that GLUT4 was excluded from SSV. Immunoelectron microscopic localization indicated that GLUT4 was indeed targeted to early and late endosomes, but in addition was concentrated in large dense core vesicles (LDCV). This latter observation was confirmed by the following experiments: (a) an antibody directed against GLUT4 immunoadsorbed the LDCV marker protein secretogranin, as assayed by Western blot; (b) approximately 85% of secretogranin metabolically labeled with 35S-labeled sulfate and allowed to progress into secretory vesicles was coadsorbed by an antibody directed against GLUT4; and (c) GLUT4 was readily detected in LDCV purified by ultracentrifugation. These data suggest that GLUT4 is specifically sorted to a specialized secretory compartment in PC12 cells.

Characterization of the mitogen-activated protein kinase/90-kilodalton ribosomal protein S6 kinase signaling pathway in 3T3-L1 adipocytes and its role in insulin-stimulated glucose transport.

Insulin exerts diverse effects on mitogenesis, metabolism, gene expression, and protein synthesis depending on the target cell type. A variety of extracellular serine/threonine kinases, including the ribosomal protein S6 kinases pp70-ribosomal S6 kinase (pp70-S6K) and pp90-ribosomal S6 kinase (pp90rsk) and the erk-encoded mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases pp44mapk/ERK-1 and pp42mapk/ERK-2, have been postulated as mediators of insulin action. In this study, we have investigated the role of the MAP kinase/pp90rsk signaling pathway in insulin-stimulated glucose transport in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Differentiation of 3T3-L1 fibroblasts into adipocyte-like cells was accompanied by a marked increase in the capacity of insulin to activate pp90rsk and pp44mapk. Whereas the maximal insulin-stimulated pp90rsk and pp44mapk activities were only approximately 30% of the serum-stimulated activities in preadipocytes, the insulin-stimulated kinase activities in adipocytes were equal to or greater than the serum-stimulated activities. The increase in hormone receptor number accompanying differentiation accounted for the greater sensitivity, as overexpression of human insulin receptors in NIH-3T3 cells also conferred insulin-stimulatable kinase activity. In 3T3-L1 adipocytes, the stimulation of pp90rsk and pp44mapk activities was sufficiently rapid and hormone sensitive to convey a signal for increased hexose uptake. However, epidermal growth factor and fetal bovine serum were equipotent with insulin in stimulating pp90rsk and pp44mapk activities in adipocytes, but were without effect on hexose uptake. These data indicate that activation of these enzymes is not sufficient for the acute stimulation of glucose transport.

A role for Raf-1 in the divergent signaling pathways mediating insulin-stimulated glucose transport.

Downstream mediators of insulin signaling are thought to include multiple cytoplasmic serine/threonine kinases such as the product of the cellular proto-oncogene c-raf-1. To investigate a role for the Raf-1 protein kinase in insulin-stimulated glucose transport, a gene encoding an oncogenically activated Raf-1 mutant was introduced into 3T3-L1 fibroblasts by retroviral gene transfer. Expression of activated Raf-1 in differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes markedly increases hexose uptake compared to control adipocytes or those infected with the retroviral vector. Basal 2-deoxyglucose uptake in adipocytes expressing activated Raf-1 is approximately 40-fold higher than in parental adipocytes, and insulin further increases uptake about 1.2-fold. As determined by the plasma membrane "sheet" assay, Raf-1-expressing adipocytes contain greatly elevated levels of the ubiquitous glucose transporter (GLUT1) on the cell surface in the absence or presence of insulin. Total cellular GLUT1 protein is increased about 5-fold. In contrast, activated Raf-1 affects neither the expression of the "insulin-responsive" glucose transporter (GLUT4) nor its cellular distribution; GLUT4 is virtually undetectable on the plasma membrane in the absence of insulin and translocates normally following the addition of hormone. These data suggest that activation of Raf-1 mediates the chronic effect of insulin on hexose uptake but is not sufficient for the rapid translocation of GLUT4. Moreover, the differential effects of activated Raf-1 expression on the two transporter isoforms define divergent signaling pathways by which insulin regulates glucose transport in cultured adipocytes.

Dissociation of pp70 ribosomal protein S6 kinase from insulin-stimulated glucose transport in 3T3-L1 adipocytes.

The metabolic and mitogenic actions of insulin have been proposed to be mediated by cellular serine/threonine kinases such as the ribosomal protein S6 kinases pp70-S6 (pp70-S6 kinase) and pp90rsk and the erk-encoded mitogen-activated protein kinases (pp42mapk and pp44mapk). Rapamycin completely blocked activation of pp70-S6 kinase by insulin in 3T3-L1 adipocytes, but did not inhibit insulin-stimulated glucose transport, translocation of GLUT4 to the cell surface, or activation of pp90rsk or pp44mapk by insulin. Concordant with the inhibition of kinase activity, rapamycin prevented the insulin-induced decrease in mobility of pp70-S6 kinase visualized by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, reflecting a reduction in the hormone-stimulated phosphorylation of the enzyme. The structurally related macrolide, FK506, had no effect on pp70-S6 kinase or hexose uptake. These data demonstrate that rapamycin blocks insulin activation of pp70-S6 kinase in 3T3-L1 adipocytes and that pp70-S6 kinase is not required in the signaling pathway leading to insulin-stimulated glucose transport.

Identification of wortmannin-sensitive targets in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. DissociationoOf insulin-stimulated glucose uptake and glut4 translocation.

The current studies investigated the contribution of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-kinase) isoforms to insulin-stimulated glucose uptake and glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) translocation. Experiments involving the microinjection of antibodies specific for the p110 catalytic subunit of class I PI3-kinases demonstrated an absolute requirement for this form of the enzyme in GLUT4 translocation. This finding was confirmed by the demonstration that the PI3-kinase antagonist wortmannin inhibits GLUT4 and insulin-responsive aminopeptidase translocation with a dose response identical to that required to inhibit another class I PI3-kinase-dependent event, activation of pp70 S6-kinase. Interestingly, wortmannin inhibited insulin-stimulated glucose uptake at much lower doses, suggesting the existence of a second, higher affinity target of the drug. Subsequent removal of wortmannin from the media shifted this dose-response curve to one resembling that for GLUT4 translocation and pp70 S6-kinase. This is consistent with the lower affinity target being p110, which is irreversibly inhibited by wortmannin. Wortmannin did not reduce glucose uptake in cells stably expressing Myr-Akt, which constitutively induced GLUT4 translocation to the plasma membrane; this demonstrates that wortmannin does not inhibit the transporters directly. In addition to elucidating a second wortmannin-sensitive pathway in 3T3-L1 adipocytes, these studies suggest that the presence of GLUT4 on the plasma membrane is not sufficient for activation of glucose uptake.