Current evidence supports a binding model in which the insulin molecule contains two binding surfaces, site 1 and site 2, which contact the two halves of the insulin receptor. The interaction of these two surfaces with the insulin receptor results in a high affinity cross-linking of the two receptor ␣ subunits and leads to receptor activation. Evidence suggests that insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) may activate the IGF-I receptor in a similar mode. So far IGF-I residues structurally corresponding to the residues of the insulin site 1 together with residues in the C-domain of IGF-I have been found to be important for binding of IGF-I to the IGF-I receptor (e.g. results in a significant reduction in IGF-I receptor binding affinity, whereas alanine substitution at position 53 had no effect on IGF-I receptor binding. The multiple substitutions resulted in a 33-100-fold reduction in IGF-I receptor binding affinity. These data suggest that IGF-I, in addition to the C-domain, uses surfaces similar to those of insulin in contacting its cognate receptor, although the relative contribution of the side chains of homologous residues varies.
IGF-I2 is a single chain polypeptide that plays an important role in regulating growth and development (1, 2). IGF-I consists of 70 amino acid residues arranged in four domains. The A and B domains are homologous to the A and B chains of insulin (Fig. 1), whereas the C-domain connecting the A-and B-domain and the D-domain extending from the C-terminal end of the A-domain are only present in IGF-I (3-5). The three-dimensional structures of insulin and IGF-I are also very similar. The B-domain of the two molecules is arranged in a central ␣-helix including residues 8 -17 (B9 -B19) (insulin residues in parentheses), and the A-domain contains two anti-parallel ␣-helices including residues 43-48 (A1-A8) and residues 54 -60 (A13-A20) (4, 6, 7).The insulin receptor family consists of the insulin receptor (IR), insulin-like growth factor-I receptor (IGF-IR) and the insulin-receptor-related receptor, all of which are receptortyrosine kinases. The members of the insulin receptor family consist of two receptor halves, each comprising an extracellular ␣-subunit and a transmembrane -subunit, linked by a disulfide bridge. The receptor exists as a dimer when no ligand is bound, making an ␣22 receptor held together by disulfide bridges between the two ␣-subunits. The IR and the IGF-IR have sequence similarities varying from 41 to 84% depending on which regions are being compared. The overall structure of the L1-Cys-rich-L2 domains of the two receptors have been shown by x-ray crystallography to be similar (8 -11).Numerous studies indicate that the IR and IGF-IR contains two separate binding sites for the ligand; however, only one ligand binds and activates the ␣22 receptor dimer. Insulin is believed to interact with the receptor using two binding surfaces, which cross-link the two receptor halves. This cross-