Multivalent cations depress ligand binding to cell-associated insulin-like growth factor binding protein-5 on human glioblastoma cells.

The current studies quantified the effect of the multivalent cations zinc, cadmium, lanthanum, chromium, and gold (Zn2+, Cd2+, La3+, Cr3+, and Au3+) on [125I]-insulin-like growth factor ([125I]-IGF) binding to T98G human glioblastoma cells. The major binding site for the IGFs on T98G cells is IGF binding protein-5 (IGFBP-5), as determined by affinity labeling. Competitive binding studies, using either [125I]-IGF-I or [125I]-IGF-II, indicated that La3+ and Cr3+ did not affect [125I]-IGF-I or [125I]-IGF-II binding to cell-associated IGFBP-5. Zn2+, Au3+, and Cd2+ depressed binding of both [125I]-IGF-I and [125I]-IGF-II. [125I]-IGF-I and [125I]-IGF-II binding resulted in nonlinear concave-down Scatchard plots, indicating the presence of high- and low-affinity equilibrium constant of association (Ka) sites. Assuming a preexisting asymmetric model with independent high (KaHi) and low (KaLo) sites; Zn2+, Cd2+, and Au3+ eliminated KaHi and Zn2+, and Au3+ lowered KaLo, compared with control values. The same results were found, independent of whether [125I]-IGF-I or [125I]-IGF-II was used. Similarly, assuming a ligand-induced model of negative cooperativity, all three cations eliminated the initial affinity for the high affinity sites (Ka), whereas Zn2+ and Au2+ reduced the final affinity for the low affinity sites (Kf). Dose-response studies indicated that Zn2+, Au3+, and Cd2+ depressed binding with half-maximal activities of approximately 20 microM, 14-60 microM, and 50-65 microM, respectively. Zn2+, Au3+, and Cd2+ bind to similar sites on proteins (a zinc-binding motif), indicating similar mechanisms of action. A zinc-binding motif is present within the IGFBPs but not the IGFs. We demonstrate, for the first time, that multivalent cations have the potential to modulate IGF activity by decreasing the amount of IGF bound to cell-associated IGFBP-5.