Leptin and fasting regulate rat gastric glucose-regulated protein 58

The stomach secretes a wide range of peptides with essential metabolic functions, and thereby plays an important role in the regulation of energy homeostasis. Disulfide isomerase glucose-regulated protein 58 (GRp58) is a molecular chaperone member of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress signaling pathway, which is a marker for human gastric cancer. Since GRp58 seems to be regulated by a phosphorylation/dephosphorylation pattern shift, we used the 2DE gel methodology and peptide mass fingerprinting-protein identification by means of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. We show that gastric mucosa GRp58 is dephosphorylated by fasting, and this effect is blunted when fasted rats are treated with leptin. Furthermore, we assessed the gene expression of GRp58 under different physiological settings known to be associated with energy homeostasis (fasting, leptin treatment and leptin deficiency). We found that intraperitoneal administration of leptin increases whereas leptin deficiency decreases GRp58 mRNA levels. However, GRp58 expression remains unchanged after fasting, indicating that leptin actions on GRp58 are no direct sensitivity to fasting. Dissection of the molecular pathways mediating the interactions between ER stress-related factors and nutrient availability, as well as their target genes, may open a new avenue for the study of obesity and other metabolic disorders.