Receptor-mediated endocytosis and lysosomal processing of insulin-like growth factor I by mitogenically responsive cells.

The processing of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) by MG-63, an IGF-I-responsive human osteosarcoma cell line, has been investigated. At 37 C, the binding of [125I] IGF-I to monolayers of MG-63 cells reaches a maximum after about 1 h and slowly declines thereafter. The addition of the lysosomotropic agents methylamine, chloroquine, and monensin to the binding medium prevents the decline in [125I]IGF-I binding observed in the untreated cells and causes a 1.5- to 3-fold increase in cell-associated radioactivity after 4 h. Leupeptin, an inhibitor of lysosomal proteases, and colchicine, an inhibitor of endosomal transport, also increase cell-associated [125I]IGF-I. Three observations indicate that the increased radioactivity associated with the treated cells is the result of intracellular accumulation of the ligands and not the result of an increase in cell surface IGF binding. First, no increase in [125I]IGF-I binding is observed in cells preincubated with methylamine at 37 C but transferred to 4 C (where endocytosis is inhibited) before the addition of the radiolabeled ligands. Second, the increased radioactivity bound by methylamine-treated cells is not removed by washing the cells with dilute acid, a treatment that removes surface-bound [125I]IGF-I. Third, in leupeptin-treated cells [125I]IGF-I accumulates in a subcellular fraction with properties characteristic of lysosomes. Both alpha IR-3 (100 nM), an antibody that specifically inhibits binding to the type I IGF receptor, and high concentrations of insulin (900 nM) inhibit the accumulation of [125I]IGF-I by methylamine-treated cells, indicating that internalization of IGF-I occurs through the type I IGF receptor and not through the type II IGF receptor or the IGF-binding protein(s) that is also present on these cells. These results demonstrate that in MG-63 cells IGF-I is endocytosed via the type I IGF receptor and that the endocytosed hormone is degraded, at least in part, in lysosomes. These findings are similar to those described for the processing of insulin and other growth factors by their target cells and extend further the homology between IGF-I and these other agents.