Degradation of pro-insulin-receptor proteins by proteasomes

Type-2 diabetes is characterized by hyperinsulinemia, peripheral insulin resistance, and diminished tyrosine phosphorylation activity. It has been recently shown that proteasomes are implicated in the degradation of the insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) but not in that of the insulin receptor (IR). However, it is unknown whether proteasomes are involved in pro-IR degradation.

We used CHO-IR and the 3T3-L1 cells treated with insulin at different concentrations and compared the proteasome activity of IRS-1, IR, and pro-IR degradation either in presence or in absence of lactacystin.

A total of 100 nM of insulin allowed degradation of IRS-1 after 6 h of incubation. At 1,000 nM of insulin, pro-IR degradation began at 1 h of incubation, similar to IRS-1 degradation. Surprisingly, at a higher concentration (10 microM) of insulin, a drastic decrease of proteins was observed from the first minute of incubation. This activity was blocked by lactacystin, a specific proteasome inhibitor.

According to these results, we propose that pro-IR is degraded by proteasomes.