In recent years, analogs of human insulin have been engineered with the aim of improving therapy for people with diabetes. To ensure that the safety profile of the human hormone is not compromised by the molecular modifications, the toxico-pharmacological properties of insulin analogs should be carefully monitored. In this study, we compared the insulin and IGF-I receptor binding properties and metabolic and mitogenic potencies of insulin aspart (B28Asp human insulin), insulin lispro (B28Lys,B29Pro human insulin), insulin glargine (A21Gly,B31Arg,B32Arg human insulin), insulin detemir (NN304) [B29Lys(-tetradecanoyl),desB30 human insulin], and reference insulin analogs. Receptor affinities were measured using purified human receptors, insulin receptor dissociation rates were determined using Chinese hamster ovary cells overexpressing the human insulin receptor, metabolic potencies were evaluated using primary mouse adipocytes, and mitogenic potencies were determined in human osteosarcoma cells. Metabolic potencies correlated well with insulin receptor affinities. Mitogenic potencies in general correlated better with IGF-I receptor affinities than with insulin receptor off-rates. The 2 rapid-acting insulin analogs aspart and lispro resembled human insulin on all parameters, except for a slightly elevated IGF-I receptor affinity of lispro. In contrast, the 2 long-acting insulin analogs, glargine and detemir, differed significantly from human insulin. The combination of the B31B32diArg and A21Gly substitutions provided insulin glargine with a 6-to 8-fold increased IGF-I receptor affinity and mitogenic potency compared with human insulin. The attachment of a fatty acid chain to LysB29 provided insulin detemir with reduced receptor affinities and metabolic and mitogenic potencies but did not change the balance between mitogenic and metabolic potencies. The safety implications of the increased growth-stimulating potential of insulin glargine are unclear. The reduced in vitro potency of insulin detemir might explain why this analog is not as effective on a molar basis as human insulin in humans.

Crystal structures of the insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) phosphotyrosine-binding (PTB) domain, alone and complexed with the juxtamembrane region of the insulin receptor, show how this domain recognizes phosphorylated "NPXY" sequence motifs. The domain is a 7-stranded beta sandwich capped by a C-terminal helix. The insulin receptor phosphopeptide fills an L-shaped cleft on the domain. The N-terminal residues of the bound peptide form an additional strand in the beta sandwich, stabilized by contacts with the C-terminal helix. These interactions explain why IRS-1 binds to the insulin receptor but not to NPXpY motifs in growth factor receptors. The PTB domains of IRS-1 and Shc share a common fold with pleckstrin homology domains. Overall, ligand binding by IRS-1 and Shc PTB domains is similar, but residues critical for phosphotyrosine recognition are not conserved.

Cartilage tissue engineering relies on in vitro expansion of primary chondrocytes. Monolayer is the chosen culture model for chondrocyte expansion because in this system the proliferative capacity of chondrocytes is substantially higher compared to non-adherent systems. However, human articular chondrocytes (HACs) cultured as monolayers undergo changes in phenotype and gene expression known as "dedifferentiation." To gain a better understanding of the cellular mechanisms involved in the dedifferentiation process, our research focused on the characterization of the surface molecule phenotype of HACs in monolayer culture. Adult HACs were isolated by enzymatic digestion of cartilage samples obtained post-mortem. HACs cultured in monolayer for different time periods were analyzed by flow cytometry for the expression of cell surface markers with a panel of 52 antibodies. Our results show that HACs express surface molecules belonging to different categories: integrins and other adhesion molecules (CD49a, CD49b, CD49c, CD49e, CD49f, CD51/61, CD54, CD106, CD166, CD58, CD44), tetraspanins (CD9, CD63, CD81, CD82, CD151), receptors (CD105, CD119, CD130, CD140a, CD221, CD95, CD120a, CD71, CD14), ectoenzymes (CD10, CD26), and other surface molecules (CD90, CD99). Moreover, differential expression of certain markers in monolayer culture was identified. Up-regulation of markers on HACs regarded as distinctive for mesenchymal stem cells (CD10, CD90, CD105, CD166) during monolayer culture suggested that dedifferentiation leads to reversion to a primitive phenotype. This study contributes to the definition of HAC phenotype, and provides new potential markers to characterize chondrocyte differentiation stage in the context of tissue engineering applications.

The domain organization of many signalling proteins facilitates a segregation of binding, catalytic and regulatory functions. The mammalian SH2 domain protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) contain tandem SH2 domains and a single carboxy-terminal catalytic domain. SH-PTP1 (PTP1C, HCP) and SH-PTP2 (Syp, PTP2C, PTP1D) function downstream from tyrosine kinase-linked insulin, growth factor, cytokine and antigen receptors. As well as directing subcellular localization by binding to receptors and their substrates, the two SH2 domains of these PTPs function together to regulate catalysis. Here we report the structure of the tandem SH2 domains of SH-PTP2 in complex with monophosphopeptides. A fixed relative orientation of the two domains, stabilized by a disulphide bond and a small hydrophobic patch within the interface, separates the peptide binding sites by approximately 40 A. The defined orientation of the SH2 domains in the structure, and data showing that peptide orientation and spacing between binding sites is critical for enzymatic activation, suggest that spatial constraints are important in this multidomain protein-protein interaction.