Inhibition of proliferation of cloudman S91 melanoma cells by insulin and characterization of some insulin-resistant variants.

Abstract

Insulin is a potent, reversible inhibitor of proliferation in Cloudman S91 mouse melanoma cells. The inhibition seems to be unique to the Cloudman line since five other cell lines, including the mouse B16 and hamster Greene melanomas, were unaffected by insulin under the same culture conditions. Variants of Cloudman S91 cells were isolated which differed from wild-type (WT) cells in their response to insulin. Most of these variants were resistant to insulin (INSres) and had the same generation time independent of the presence of the hormone. One line (INSdep) was found to require insulin for growth. This line was about 15 times more sensitive to the proliferative effects of insulin than the WT. Revertants of the INSdep line were selected for their ability to proliferate in the absence of insulin. Five out of five such revertants were insulin resistant, suggesting that the INSdep line arose as a results of at least two separate mutations. Both WT and INSdep cells showed enhanced uptake of 14C-alpha-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB) when exposed to insulin. Dose-response curves of the stimulation of AIB uptake in WT and INSdep cells were superimposable. Stimulation of AIB uptake and stimulation of proliferation by insulin were not under coordinate control since AIB uptake was increased equally in the wild-type cells when proliferation was inhibited and in INSdep cells when proliferation was enhanced. Binding of 125I-insulin was used to demonstrate the presence of specific, high affinity insulin receptors on the cells. INSres variants generally had fewer receptors than WT, but in no case did the magnitude of this effect appear to be sufficient to explain the insensitivity to insulin. The INSdep variant showed a greater than two-fold increase in the number of insulin receptors per cell, compared to WT. Revertants of the INSdep line had the same number of receptors as WT. The specificity for both binding and for the effects on proliferation were the same in WT and INSdep cells. Since the effects of insulin on proliferation were opposite in the two lines, we propose at least two distinct sites of insulin action on the cells. Further isolation and analyses of Cloudman lines with unusual responses to insulin should be useful for understanding the molecular basis of action of this hormone.