title: Regulation of insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-4 in human endometrial stromal cell cultures: evidence for ligand-induced proteolysis.
abstract: The present study investigates the regulation of IGFBP-4 levels by insulin-like growth factor (IGF) peptides in human endometrial stromal cell cultures. A 24-kilodalton (kDa) IGF-binding protein (IGFBP) secreted by stromal cells was identified as IGFBP-4 by immunoprecipitation and Western ligand blotting. Western ligand blot analysis of conditioned medium showed that treatment of stromal cells with IGF-I or IGF-II induced a dose-dependent reduction of detectable IGFBP-4 levels. Two IGF analogs that bind type I IGF receptors, but have reduced affinity for IGFBPs, increased detectable levels of IGFBP-4, and their ability to reduce IGFBP-4 at high concentrations was positively correlated with their affinity for this binding protein. LR3-IGF-I, which has 1000-fold lower binding affinity than IGF-I, increased detectable IGFBP-4 at all concentrations tested. Des-(1-3)-IGF-I, whose affinity for IGFBP-4 is 30-fold lower than that of IGF-I, increased detectable IGFBP-4 at low concentrations (0.1-10 ng/mL), but reduced its levels at 100 ng/mL, consistent with the significant binding to IGFBP-4 at this concentration. In contrast, IGFBP-4 was undetectable in cultures receiving Leu27-IGF-II, which has reduced affinity for the type IIGF receptor but unaltered affinity for IGFBPs and the type II receptor. High concentrations of insulin (100 ng/mL), which interacts with type I IGF receptors without binding IGFBPs, also increased detectable levels of IGFBP-4 in stromal cultures. The addition of IGF-I or IGF-II to cell-free conditioned medium from stromal cells cultured in the absence of IGFs resulted in the reduction of detectable endogenous IGFBP-4 levels. The effects of IGFs on IGFBP-4 levels in this cell-free system were time, temperature, and pH dependent and were prevented by the serine proteinase inhibitor, aprotinin, by the divalent cation chelator, EDTA, and by the metal ion chelator, 1,10-phenanthroline. Western immunoblotting showed that the IGF-induced reduction of intact 24-kDa IGFBP-4 was accompanied by the generation of an immunoreactive fragment of approximately 16 kDa, which was not detectable by Western ligand blotting. Cell-free conditioned medium from endometrial stromal cultures proteolyzed covalently cross-linked [125I]IGF-II-IGFBP-4 complexes in the absence of added IGFs, generating an 18-kDa radiolabeled fragment, and addition of free IGF peptide did not enhance the degradation of IGF-II-IGFBP-4 complexes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Stanford University Medical Center, California 94305.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Irwin
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Dsupin
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Giudice
mesh_terms: D015153:Blotting, Western; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D003470:Culture Media; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004717:Endometrium / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000494:pharmacology; D018974:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 4; D008024:Ligands; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases / Q000378:metabolism*; D017451:Receptors, Somatomedin / Q000378:metabolism; D013002:Somatomedins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D003470:Culture Media; D007328:Insulin; D018974:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 4; D008024:Ligands; D017451:Receptors, Somatomedin; D013002:Somatomedins; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases