Effects of mannose-6-phosphate on receptor-mediated endocytosis of insulin-like growth factor-II.

The insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-II) and lysosomal enzymes containing a mannose-6-phosphate (M6P) recognition site bind to different sites of the same receptor molecule. We have observed that M6P increases the receptor-mediated uptake of IGF-II into IM-9 cells. We now confirm this phenomenon in a different line, the H-35 rat hepatoma cells, and present additional characterization of the underlying mechanisms. When incubated in the presence of radiolabeled IGF-II, H-35 cells accumulated, in a time-dependent fashion, radioactivity that was resistant to removal by trypsin digestion at 15 C, indicating that it was endocytosed. In the presence of 3 mM M6P, endocytosed counts were approximately 2-fold higher after 5 min of incubation, an enhancement that peaked at 10 min, then declined, but was still evident after 40 min (1.5-fold). The rate of release of cell-associated IGF-II, degraded or intact, as measured in a chase experiment, was not affected by M6P. These observations indicate that M6P increased accumulation of IGF-II by accelerating its rate of endocytosis rather than by interfering with IGF-II degradation or with the recycling of intact hormone-receptor complexes to the cell surface. Electrophoresis after affinity cross-linking of labeled cells demonstrated that the enhancement in radioactivity could be located at a molecular size of approximately 250 kDa, corresponding to IGF-II-receptor complexes. Preincubation with M6P did not significantly alter the specific binding of IGF-II to the cell surface of H-35 cells, as measured by a binding assay at 4 C. Finally, pretreatment with cycloheximide for up to 8 h, to remove all newly synthesized lysosomal enzymes bound to the M6P/IGF-II receptor, did not affect IGF-II endocytosis beyond what could be accounted for by some loss of receptor, suggesting that the observed effect of M6P is due to the binding of M6P itself to the receptor and not to displacement of lysosomal enzymes. We conclude that simultaneous occupancy of the M6P/IGF-II receptor by ligands on both binding sites enhances its rate of endocytosis.