The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is the cellular site of newly synthesized secretory and membrane proteins. Such proteins must be properly folded and posttranslationally modified before exit from the organelle. Proper protein folding and modification requires molecular chaperone proteins as well as an ER environment conducive for these reactions. When ER lumenal conditions are altered or chaperone capacity is overwhelmed, the cell activates signaling cascades that attempt to deal with the altered conditions and restore a favorable folding environment. Such alterations are referred to as ER stress, and the response activated is the unfolded protein response (UPR). When the UPR is perturbed or not sufficient to deal with the stress conditions, apoptotic cell death is initiated. This review will examine UPR signaling that results in cell protective responses, as well as the mechanisms leading to apoptosis induction, which can lead to pathological states due to chronic ER stress.
sure to elevated saturated free fatty acid (FFA) levels has been shown to induce endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress that may contribute to promoting pancreatic -cell apoptosis. Here, we compared the effects of FFAs on apoptosis and ER stress in human islets and two pancreatic -cell lines, rat INS-1 and mouse MIN6 cells. Isolated human islets cultured in vitro underwent apoptosis, and markers of ER stress pathways were elevated by chronic palmitate exposure. Palmitate also induced apoptosis in MIN6 and INS-1 cells, although the former were more resistant to both apoptosis and ER stress. MIN6 cells were found to express significantly higher levels of ER chaperone proteins than INS-1 cells, which likely accounts for the ER stress resistance. We attempted to determine the relative contribution that ER stress plays in palmitate-induced -cell apoptosis. Although overexpressing GRP78 in INS-1 cells partially reduced susceptibility to thapsigargin, this failed to reduce palmitate-induced ER stress or apoptosis. In INS-1 cells, palmitate induced apoptosis at concentrations that did not result in significant ER stress. Finally, MIN6 cells depleted of GRP78 were more susceptible to tunicamycin-induced apoptosis but not to palmitate-induced apoptosis compared with control cells. These results suggest that ER stress is likely not the main mechanism involved in palmitate-induced apoptosis in -cell lines. Human islets and MIN6 cells were found to express high levels of stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 compared with INS-1 cells, which may account for the decreased susceptibility of these cells to the cytotoxic effects of palmitate. endoplasmic reticulum; lipotoxicity; palmitate LIPOTOXICITY CONTRIBUTES to -cell dysfunction during the development of type 2 diabetes (19,42,48). Chronically elevated levels of free fatty acids (FFAs), particularly saturated FFAs such as palmitate, have been shown to be cytotoxic to pancreatic -cells (8, 10, 24, 30 -33, 41, 46, 50). The monounsaturated FFA oleate on the other hand has been shown to not cause apoptosis of -cells in some studies (16,17,31,32,35), while other studies (11,24,27,33,50) found that it does, particularly those that used the INS-1 -cell line.Palmitate-induced cytotoxicity can result from multiple mechanisms, such as increases in reactive oxygen species (8,18,33), ceramide, and nitric oxide (NO) levels (30, 45) and mitochondrial perturbations (8,18,33). In addition, recent studies (23-25) have shown that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress pathways are activated by chronic palmitate exposure.ER stress is caused when the protein folding capacity of the ER is not sufficient to deal with protein folding demands or when an excess of misfolded or aggregated proteins accumulate. Such conditions activate the unfolded protein response (UPR) that attempts to reduce the amount of new protein synthesis, increase folding capacity, and degrade terminally misfolded proteins (20, 53). Prolonged ER stress can lead to apoptosis induction (37, 53) and thus may contribute to palmitate-induced -c...
Chronic hyperglycemia contributes to pancreatic -cell dysfunction during the development of type 2 diabetes. Treatment of pancreatic -cells with prolonged high glucose concentrations has been shown to reduce insulin promoter activity and insulin gene expression. Here, we examined the effect of high glucose on endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress pathway activation and insulin production in INS-1 832/13 pancreatic -cells. Treatment of cells with 25 mM glucose for 24 -48 h decreased insulin mRNA and protein levels and reduced the proinsulin translation rate, which was accompanied by enhanced unfolded protein response pathway activation (XBP-1 mRNA splicing and increased phospho-eIF2␣, CHOP, and active ATF6 levels). Overexpressing the ER chaperone GRP78 partially rescued high glucose-induced suppression of proinsulin levels and improved glucose-stimulated insulin secretion with no effect on insulin 2 mRNA levels. Under these conditions, there was little effect of GRP78 overexpression on ER stress markers. Knockdown of GRP78 expression under basal glucose conditions reduced cellular insulin levels and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Thus, GRP78 is essential for insulin biosynthesis, and enhancing chaperone capacity can improve -cell function in the presence of prolonged hyperglycemia. In contrast, overexpression of the ER chaperone and oxidoreductase protein-disulfide isomerase (PDI) reduced glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and induced ER stress resulting from the accumulation of proinsulin in the ER. These results suggest a role for both GRP78 and PDI in insulin biosynthesis, although an excess of PDI disrupts normal proinsulin processing.
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