Proglucagon expression, posttranslational processing and secretion in SV40-transformed islet cells.

HIT T15 is a B cell line derived from SV40 transformation of hamster islets. We describe here a HIT T15 variant, designated HIT T15-G, which appears to have evolved spontaneously and which expresses glucagon. Regulation of glucagon gene expression, posttranslational processing of proglucagon, and secretion of glucagon were studied in this cell line. Glucagon mRNA concentrations were increased approx. 2-fold following incubation of cells for 18 h in 10 microM forskolin but were unaffected by treatment with a phorbol ester (12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate; TPA) or with ionomycin. Proglucagon was processed to glucagon, and several large molecular weight forms of GLP-I and GLP-II which may include the major proglucagon fragment (MPF). The secretion of glucagon was stimulated by forskolin (5-fold), adrenalin (2-fold), arginine (3-fold) and KCl (2-fold) but was unaffected by glucose. These results suggest that the HIT T15-G cells may represent a less differentiated form of the parental HIT T15 cell line in which A cell phenotype is dominant but not complete.