Mediation of insulin-like growth factor actions by the insulin receptor in H-35 rat hepatoma cells.

We have used H-35 rat hepatoma cells to test whether the type II insulin-like growth factor (IGF) receptor mediates metabolic responses to IGF-II. On the basis of both affinity cross-linking experiments and competition binding experiments, H-35 cells display insulin and type II IGF receptors, but not type I IGF receptors. IGF-II and multiplication-stimulating activity (MSA; the rat homolog of IGF-II) stimulate tyrosine aminotransferase, amino acid transport, and glycogen synthase activities to the same magnitude as insulin. However, MSA and IGF-II stimulate these metabolic responses only at high concentrations, indicating that these peptides are acting through the insulin receptor. Incubation of H-35 cells with MSA also induces a state of unresponsiveness to the further actions of both MSA and insulin. There is no associated loss of either insulin or IGF-II binding, indicating that desensitization occurs at a postbinding step in hormone action. The high concentration of MSA necessary to induce desensitization is also consistent with MSA acting through the insulin receptor. We conclude that in H-35 cells, the insulin receptor, rather than the type II IGF receptor, mediates the metabolic responses stimulated by MSA and IGF-II as well as the MSA-induced desensitization to insulin and MSA action.