No abstract

Insulin resistance is often associated with obesity and can precipitate type 2 diabetes. To date, most known approaches that improve insulin resistance must be preceded by the amelioration of obesity and hepatosteatosis. Here, we show that this provision is not mandatory; insulin resistance and hyperglycemia are improved by the modification of hepatic fatty acid composition, even in the presence of persistent obesity and hepatosteatosis. Mice deficient for Elovl6, the gene encoding the elongase that catalyzes the conversion of palmitate to stearate, were generated and shown to become obese and develop hepatosteatosis when fed a high-fat diet or mated to leptin-deficient ob/ob mice. However, they showed marked protection from hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia and hyperleptinemia. Amelioration of insulin resistance was associated with restoration of hepatic insulin receptor substrate-2 and suppression of hepatic protein kinase C epsilon activity resulting in restoration of Akt phosphorylation. Collectively, these data show that hepatic fatty acid composition is a new determinant for insulin sensitivity that acts independently of cellular energy balance and stress. Inhibition of this elongase could be a new therapeutic approach for ameliorating insulin resistance, diabetes and cardiovascular risks, even in the presence of a continuing state of obesity.

Insulin receptor substrate 2 (IRS-2) is the main mediator of insulin signalling in the liver, controlling insulin sensitivity. Sterol regulatory element binding proteins (SREBPs) have been established as transcriptional regulators of lipid synthesis. Here, we show that SREBPs directly repress transcription of IRS-2 and inhibit hepatic insulin signalling. The IRS-2 promoter is activated by forkhead proteins through an insulin response element (IRE). Nuclear SREBPs effectively replace and interfere in the binding of these transactivators, resulting in inhibition of the downstream PI(3)K/Akt pathway, followed by decreased glycogen synthesis. These data suggest a molecular mechanism for the physiological switching from glycogen synthesis to lipogenesis and hepatic insulin resistance that is associated with hepatosteatosis.

The cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor p27 binds and inhibits the kinase activity of several CDKs. Here we report an analysis of the behavior and partners of p27 in Swiss 3T3 mouse fibroblasts during normal mitotic cell cycle progression, as well as in cells arrested at different stages in the cycle by growth factor deprivation, lovastatin treatment, or ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. We found that the level of p27 is elevated in cells arrested in G0 by growth factor deprivation or contact inhibition. In G0, p27 was predominantly monomeric, although some portion was associated with residual cyclin A.Cdk2. During G1, all of p27 was associated with cyclin D1.Cdk4 and was then redistributed to cyclin A.Cdk2 as cells entered S phase. The loss of the monomeric p27 pool as cyclins accumulate in G1 is consistent with the in vivo and in vitro data showing that p27 binds better to cyclin.CDK complexes than to monomeric CDKs. In growing cells, the majority of p27 was associated with cyclin D1 and the level of p27 was significantly lower than the level of cyclin D1. In cells arrested in G1 with lovastatin, cyclin D1 was degraded and p27 was redistributed to cyclin A.Cdk2. In contrast to p21 (which is a p27-related CDK inhibitor and is induced by UV irradiation), the level of p27 was reduced after UV irradiation, but because cyclin D1 was degraded more rapidly than p27, there was a transient increase in binding of p27 to cyclin A.Cdk2. These data suggest that cyclin D1.Cdk4 acts as a reservoir for p27, and p27 is redistributed from cyclin D1.Cdk4 to cyclin A.Cdk2 complexes during S phase, or when cells are arrested by growth factor deprivation, lovastatin treatment, or UV irradiation. It is likely that a similar principle of redistribution of p27 is used by the cell in other instances of cell cycle arrest.

The cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor p21 is induced by the tumor suppressor gene product p53 and is thought to be important for the arrest of the cell cycle following DNA damage. Here we have investigated the contribution of p21 in inhibiting different cyclin-CDK complexes that drive different cell cycle transitions following UV irradiation-induced DNA damage in normal human fibroblasts and immortalized rodent fibroblasts. When cells were exposed to a low dose of UV irradiation, both p53 and p21 were induced; the protein kinase activities associated with Cdc2, Cdk2, and Cdk4 were inhibited; and there was a good correlation between their inhibition and binding to p21. p21 alone is likely to be sufficient for the inhibition of Cdk2 because all the cyclin-complexed forms of Cdk2 were associated with p21 after irradiation. In contrast, only a small proportion of Cdk4 and Cdc2 was complexed with p21, although the level of Cdk4 associated with either p21 or p27 was increased after irradiation. Furthermore, recombinant p21 added to an unirradiated cell lysate at the same level as that induced by irradiation damage inhibited only the kinase activity associated with Cdk2. Cdc2 is likely to be inhibited by Thr-14/Tyr-15 phosphorylation after irradiation because Cdc2 was tyrosine-phosphorylated, and recombinant Cdc25 was able to increase its kinase activity significantly. Taken together, these results suggest that different CDKs are inhibited by different mechanisms following UV-induced DNA damage: Cdk2 is inhibited by the elevated level of p21; Cdk4 is inhibited by cooperation of p21 with other CDK inhibitors, like p27, and possibly by phosphorylation; and Cdc2 is inhibited by Thr-14/Tyr-15 phosphorylation. It is likely that these underlying mechanisms that inactivate CDKs are similar for other kinds of DNA damage. Cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs)1 are key regulators of the eukaryotic cell cycle. Cdc2 is associated with B-type cyclins and regulates M phase (1). Cdk2 is associated with A-and E-type cyclins, and the respective complexes are believed to control S phase and the G 1 -S transition, respectively (2, 3). Cdk4 and Cdk6 are associated with the D-type cyclins and are important for G 1 progression (3).The activity of CDKs is tightly regulated by an intricate system of protein-protein interaction and phosphorylation. Association with a cyclin subunit is absolutely required for CDK activation. The activity of the kinase holoenzyme is increased by phosphorylation of Thr-161 and inhibited by phosphorylation of