Structural basis for the lower affinity of the insulin-like growth factors for the insulin receptor.
Insulin and the insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) bind with high affinity to their cognate receptor and with lower affinity to the noncognate receptor. The major structural difference between insulin and the IGFs is that the IGFs are single chain polypeptides containing A-, B-, C-, and D-domains, whereas the insulin molecule contains separate A- and B-chains. The C-domain of IGF-I is critical for high affinity binding to the insulin-like growth factor I receptor, and lack of a C-domain largely explains the low affinity of insulin for the insulin-like growth factor I receptor. It is less clear why the IGFs have lower affinity for the insulin receptor. In this study, 24 insulin analogues and four IGF analogues were expressed and analyzed to explore the role of amino acid differences in the A- and B-domains between insulin and the IGFs in binding affinity for the insulin receptor. Using the information obtained from single substituted analogues, four multiple substituted analogues were produced. A "quadruple insulin" analogue ([Phe(A8), Ser(A10), Thr(B5), Gln(B16)]Ins) showed affinity as IGF-I for the insulin receptor, and a "sextuple insulin" analogue ([Phe(A8), Ser(A10), Thr(A18), Thr(B5), Thr(B14), Gln(B16)]Ins) showed an affinity close to that of IGF-II for the insulin receptor, whereas a "quadruple IGF-I" analogue ([His(4), Tyr(15), Thr(49), Ile(51)]IGF-I) and a "sextuple IGF-II" analogue ([His(7), Ala(16), Tyr(18), Thr(48), Ile(50), Asn(58)]IGF-II) showed affinities similar to that of insulin for the insulin receptor. The mitogenic potency of these analogues correlated well with the binding properties. Thus, a small number of A- and B-domain substitutions that map to the IGF surface equivalent to the classical binding surface of insulin weaken two hotspots that bind to the insulin receptor site 1.
Gauguin
Lisbeth
L
Receptor Systems Biology Laboratory, Hagedorn Research Institute, 2820 Gentofte, Denmark. LGau@hagedorn.dk
Klaproth
Birgit
B
Sajid
Waseem
W
Andersen
Asser S
AS
McNeil
Kerrie A
KA
Forbes
Briony E
BE
De Meyts
Pierre
P
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D000818:Animals; D001667:Binding, Competitive; D002460:Cell Line; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007328:Insulin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D007335:Insulin-Like Growth Factor II / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D007700:Kinetics; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D051381:Rats; D011972:Receptor, Insulin / Q000378:metabolism*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013002:Somatomedins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
D007328:Insulin; D011498:Protein Precursors; D013002:Somatomedins; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I; D007335:Insulin-Like Growth Factor II; D011972:Receptor, Insulin