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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 281, Issue 30, 20666-20672, July 28, 2006
Thyroid Hormone Stimulates Protein Synthesis in the Cardiomyocyte by Activating the Akt-mTOR and p70S6K Pathways*![]() ![]() 1
From the
Received for publication, November 28, 2005 , and in revised form, May 2, 2006.
Thyroid hormones affect cardiac growth and phenotype; however, the mechanisms by which the hormones induce cardiomyocyte hypertrophy remain uncharacterized. Tri-iodo-L-thyronine (T3) treatment of cultured cardiomyocytes for 24 h resulted in a 41 ± 5% (p < 0.001) increase in [3H]leucine incorporation into total cellular protein. This response was abrogated by the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor, wortmannin. Co-immunoprecipitation studies showed a direct interaction of cytosol-localized thyroid hormone receptor TR 1 and the p85 subunit of PI3K. T3 treatment rapidly increased PI3K activity by 52 ± 3% (p < 0.005), which resulted in increased phosphorylation of downstream kinases Akt and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). This effect was abrogated by pretreatment with wortmannin or LY294002. Phosphorylation of p70S6K, a known target of mTOR, occurred rapidly following T3 treatment and was inhibited by rapamycin and wortmannin. In contrast, phosphorylation of the p85 variant of S6K in response to T3 was not blocked by LY294002, wortmannin, or rapamycin, thus supporting a T3-activated pathway independent of PI3K and mTOR. 40 S ribosomal protein S6, a target of p70S6K, and 4E-BP1, a target of mTOR, were both phosphorylated within 1525 min of T3 treatment and could be inhibited by wortmannin and rapamycin. Thus, rapid T3-mediated activation of PI3K by cytosolic TR 1 and subsequent activation of the Akt-mTOR-S6K signaling pathway may underlie one of the mechanisms by which thyroid hormone regulates physiological cardiac growth.
The observation that thyroid hormone treatment of patients and experimental animal models of heart failure can improve cardiac function has been attributed in part to its regulation of cardiac genes (15). It has also been well documented that thyroid hormones stimulate physiologic cardiac hypertrophy (6); however, the intracellular mechanisms underlying this response remain poorly defined. Patients with chronic hyperthyroidism experience a marked reduction in systemic vascular resistance with increased cardiac contractility and cardiac output, often associated with ventricular hypertrophy (7, 8). However, the role of thyroid hormones on gene expression fails to satisfactorily explain the effects observed on cardiomyocyte growth. Recent published studies supporting the cytosolic localization and non-transcriptional activities of thyroid hormone receptors may underlie thyroid hormone-induced physiological growth (911). Evidence of protein-protein interactions between cytosolic thyroid hormone receptors and the p85 regulatory subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K),2 and activation of PI3K activity by T3 treatment have been reported (12, 13). Activation of the PI3K -Akt-mTOR pathway by IGF-1 and transgenic animal models expressing molecular components of this pathway have implicated the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway in determining heart size and physiologic cardiac growth (1418). Recently, Kuzman et al. (19) reported that the Akt-mTOR signaling pathway was activated in the hypertrophied hearts of hyperthyroid animals. Furthermore, activation of PI3K and Akt appears to be a common feature of the cardioprotective mechanisms of numerous peptide hormones and growth factors including IGF-1, insulin, adrenomedullin, and estrogen (2023). It remains to be ascertained whether activation of this pathway by thyroid hormones explains some of its cardioprotective effects and unresolved non-nuclear mechanisms of action (2427).
The objective of the current study was to determine whether T3-induced physiologic cardiac growth is mediated via the PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway by the activation of PI3K through a direct interaction with TR
Isolation, Culture, and Viral Transduction of Neonatal Rat Ventricular MyocytesAnimals were treated in accordance with the National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (Department of Health and Human Services Publication 8523), and study protocols were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Ventricular myocytes were isolated from hearts of 2-day-old rats by collagenase digestion as we have previously described (9). Myocytes were plated at 1.5 x 104/cm2 on collagen-coated 6-well plates or 60-mm dishes and cultured for the first 20 h in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium/F12 medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum, L-glutamine, cytosine -D-arabino-furanoside (10 µM), and antibiotics. After the first 20 h, the neonatal rat ventricular myocyte cultures were washed with Hanks' balanced salt solution and transduced with adenovirus-expressing TR 1 (2 m.o.i.) as we have previously published (9). Select cultures were co-transduced with adenovirus expressing a mutant p85 subunit of PI3K that lacks the p110-binding site (Ad- p85PI3K, kindly provided by Dr. M. Kasuga, Kobe University, Japan). In most experiments, cultures were transduced with Ad-TR 1 unless indicated otherwise. Cells were washed and maintained in serum-free medium (containing transferrin (5 mg/liter), selenium (5 µg/liter) for 48 h prior to experimentation as indicated under "Results." Reagents used in cell culture were the highest quality available from Calbiochem or ICI Biomedicals Inc. (Aurora, OH). Final concentrations were: T3 (108 M), LY294002, (5 x 105 M), wortmannin (2 x 106 M), rapamycin (2.5 x 108 M), IGF-1 (108 M). Measurement of Protein SynthesisAfter 24 h in serum-free medium, the cardiomyocytes were treated with T3 (108 M) for 24 h or left untreated. In some cultures, wortmannin was added either with T3 for 24 h or for the final 6 h of the experiment. 6 h before harvest, L-[3,4,5-3H]leucine (5 uCi/ml; 117 Ci/mmol) was added to the culture medium to measure incorporation into newly synthesized protein. Total cellular proteins were precipitated in ice-cold 10% trichloroacetic acid and collected by centrifugation (14,000 x g, 10 min, 4 °C). The protein pellets were washed twice by resuspension in cold 10% trichloroacetic acid and collected by centrifugation. The final pellets were dissolved in 0.2 N NaOH by incubation at 60 °C for 30 min. Protein concentrations were determined by the bicinchoninic acid protein assay (Micro BCA assay; Pierce Biotechnology) and the radioactivity measured by liquid scintillation counting. Measurements of Protein and DNACardiomyocytes were quantitatively scraped from culture dishes into 0.2 N perchloric acid and collected by centrifugation (10,000 x g for 10 min.). The resulting precipitate was dissolved in 0.3 N KOH by incubation at 60 °C for 20 min. Aliquots were used for analysis of total protein by the BCA method and for DNA determination by fluorescence spectrophotometry using 33258 Hoechst dye and calf thymus DNA as standard (DNA assay kit; Sigma).
RNA AnalysisTotal cellular RNA was prepared from
Cell Fractionation and Immunoblot AnalysisCells were homogenized in buffer containing 20 mM Hepes, pH 7.9, 10 mM KCl, 1 mM EDTA, 10% glycerol, 0.2% Nonidet P-40 plus protease and phosphatase inhibitors and fractionated by centrifugation at 12,000 x g for 1 min at 4 °C. The resulting supernatant was used as the cytosolic fraction. Protein concentrations were determined by Micro BCA assay, and equal amounts of protein were analyzed by Western blotting as previously published (9, 10). Antibodies used were: anti-TR
Measurement of PI3 Kinase ActivityCardiomyocytes were treated with T3 (108 M) or IGF-1 (108 M) for 10 min or left untreated. Cells were lysed in ice-cold buffer containing 137 mM NaCl, 20 mM Tris·HCl, pH 7.4, 1 µM CaCl2, 1 µM MgCl2, 1% Nonidet P-40, protease and phosphatase inhibitors, and the soluble fraction obtained by centrifugation at 10,000 x g was used for immunoprecipitation. Cytosolic protein (500 µg) in 1 ml of final volume was incubated overnight with 8 µg of anti-PI3Kp85 antibody at 4 °C. The immune complex was precipitated using TrueBlot anti-rabbit Ig IP beads (eBioscience, San Diego, CA) and retrieved by centrifugation at 1000 x g for 1 min. The immunoprecipitate was washed and resuspended in PI3K assay buffer (20 mM Tris·HCl, pH 7.4, 100 mM NaCl, 0.5 mM EGTA) and preincubated for 5 min with 10 µg of L-
Co-immunoprecipitation AnalysisTotal cell lysate (500 µg) was first precleared using 50 µl of TrueBlot anti-rabbit Ig IP beads (eBioscience) and then incubated with either anti-PI3Kp85 or anti-TR Statistical AnalysisAll data are presented as mean ± S.E. derived from a minimum of two separate cell preparations. One-way analysis of variance was used for statistical analysis of mean values between experimental groups, and Student-Newman-Keuls was used for pairwise multiple comparisons. Differences between means were considered significant at p < 0.05. Data were analyzed using SigmaStat 3.1 (Systat Software, Inc., Richmond, CA).
T3-stimulated Protein Synthesis Is Mediated by PI3K ActivationWe determined that T3 treatment of cultured cardiomyocytes for 24 h resulted in significant cell growth as measured by the 1520% increase (p < 0.02) in protein to DNA ratios (Fig. 1A). Similar effects were seen in cardiomyocytes that were transduced with Ad-TR 1 and cultures that were not transduced. We evaluated whether this growth effect of T3 treatment resulted from an increase in rate of protein synthesis by measuring the incorporation of [3H]leucine into total cell protein over a 6-h time period. Using Ad-TR 1-transduced cultures, we showed that T3 significantly increased protein synthesis by 41 ± 5% and that this increase could be prevented by inhibition of PI3K activity by simultaneous treatment of the cells with wortmannin (W) for either 6 or 24 h (Fig. 1C). These data support a role for the PI3K pathway in T3 stimulation of protein synthesis and cardiomyocyte growth. Furthermore, Northern blot analysis ascertained that T3 treatment of the Ad-TR 1-transduced cardiomyocytes resulted in a physiological hypertrophic phenotype with stimulation of -myosin heavy chain ( MyHC) and sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium-activated ATPase mRNA expression and repression of MyHC (Fig. 1B). These T3-induced phenotypic changes were similar to those observed in non-transduced cardiomyocytes (data not shown) and in cardiomyocytes transduced with control Ad-ne gal (nuclear localized -galactosidase) as we have previously published (10).
TR
To determine whether T3 stimulated PI3K enzymatic activity, cardiomyocytes transduced with Ad-TR
T3 Rapidly Induces Phosphorylation of Akt and p70S6K That Is Sustained for 24 HoursWe examined whether the observed T3-stimulated PI3K activity could result in activation of the Akt-S6K signaling pathway as has been shown in IGF-1-mediated physiological cardiac hypertrophy and cardioprotection (15, 16). As shown in Fig. 3, Ser-473 phosphorylation of Akt was detected at 15 min after addition of T3 and phosphorylation was maintained up to 24 h, whereas total Akt protein levels were unaltered. Similarly, rapid and sustained phosphorylation of p70S6K occurred after T3 treatment, thus supporting a potential role of these signaling proteins in mediating a non-genomic cytosolic T3 response. Downstream targets of activated Akt and p70S6K pathways include several proteins directly involved in protein translation, such as 4E-BP1 and 40 S ribosomal protein S6. Rapid and persistent phosphorylation of these two proteins was observed following treatment with T3 (Fig. 3), providing evidence that rapid non-genomic responses to T3, potentially acting through cytosol-localized TR
T3 Activates mTOR through Phospho-AktWe further studied the rapid responses to T3 using cardiomyocytes that were transduced with Ad-TR 1. As with cardiomyocytes not subject to Ad-TR 1 transduction (Fig. 3) or transduced with Ad- -galactosidase (data not shown), phosphorylation of Akt at Ser-473 and Thr-308 occurred rapidly within 7 min of T3 treatment (Fig. 4A). Cell fractionation studies showed that only low amounts of phosphorylated Akt were present in the nucleus in unstimulated conditions. However, as phosphorylation of cytosolic Akt occurred in response to T3, increasing amounts of pAkt appeared in the nucleus whereas pAkt content in the cytoplasm decreased, suggesting that T3 induced nuclear translocation of pAkt. Inhibition of PI3K activity by LY294002 (LY) attenuated the T3-mediated phosphorylation and nuclear translocation of Akt (Fig. 4A). Wortmannin similarly blocked the T3 response. Also shown is the well known robust effect of IGF-1 on Akt phosphorylation (Fig. 4A). Akt activation has been implicated in numerous cellular functions, including activation of protein translation through its role in phosphorylation and activation of mTOR (reviewed in Ref. 28). Fig. 4B shows that mTOR phosphorylation (Ser-2448) in response to T3 treatment occurred more slowly than Akt phosphorylation as would be expected if mTOR were downstream of Akt in the signaling pathway. Furthermore, mTOR phosphorylation was sustained and significantly higher (p < 0.01) after 60 min of T3 treatment. Quantitation of the Western blot analyses illustrates the sequential phosphorylation and activation of these proteins within the signaling pathway (Fig. 4D). As with Akt, mTOR phosphorylation in response to T3 was abrogated by wortmannin, thus supporting a role of PI3K in this pathway (Fig. 4B). T3-activated mTOR Phosphorylates 4E-BP1 and p70S6KIn response to growth factor stimulation, mTOR has been shown to increase protein translation by phosphorylating 4E-BP1, and thus prevent its association with the translation initiation factor eIF4E, and by activating p70S6K protein kinase (reviewed in Ref. 29). As shown in Fig. 4C, 4E-BP1 phosphorylation was evident within 25 min of T3 treatment, clearly after the phosphorylation and activation of mTOR, supporting its location downstream of mTOR. Furthermore, this effect of T3 was completely inhibited by pretreatment with wortmannin.
T3-mediated phosphorylation of the p70 and p85 variants of S6 kinase (S6K) are shown in Fig. 5, A and B. Phosphorylation of both S6K isoforms occurred rapidly and peaked at
T3-activated p70S6K Results in Phosphorylation of 40 S Ribosomal Protein S6p70S6K is recognized as the kinase that phosphorylates 40 S ribosomal subunit protein S6 that enables polyribosomal association with mRNAs containing 5'-terminal oligopyrimidine tracks (reviewed in Ref. 28). As shown in Fig. 5C, phosphorylation of S6 protein was first observed at 15 min and sustained to 1 h of T3 treatment. This effect was blocked by pretreatment with wortmannin or rapamycin, suggesting that T3-mediated activation of p70S6K by the PI3K-mTOR signaling pathway was potentially responsible for ribosomal S6 protein phosphorylation and stimulation of protein translation.
T3 Effects Are Blocked by Overexpression of a Mutant p85 PI3KTo further corroborate the results showing T3-mediated activation of the PI3K-Akt pathway, we overexpressed a mutant form of the p85 subunit of PI3K (Ad- p85PI3K). As shown in Fig. 5D, overexpression of the mutant p85 by adenoviral-mediated transfer into cardiomyocytes at two different multiplicities of infection (10 and 100 m.o.i.) prevented T3-induced phosphorylation of Akt(S473) and p70S6K. The effects of T3 on the phosphorylation of the p85S6K variant appeared unaffected by the mutant p85PI3K, further supporting distinct mechanisms of activation of these two proteins.
The present studies have provided insight into the molecular mechanisms by which thyroid hormones induce physiologic cardiac hypertrophy and potentially function to maintain normal cell growth. Although previous studies have documented increased rates of protein synthesis and decreased protein degradation rates in cardiac tissue in response to thyroid hormone, the mechanisms underlying these responses have not been elucidated (6). Heretofore, biological effects of thyroid hormone have been largely attributed to nuclear transcriptional mechanisms of action that promote a normal cardiac phenotype but fail to fully explain its growth-promoting effects (30, 31). However, recent reports have documented cytosolic and membrane-initiated effects of thyroid hormones that do not involve transcriptional activity (reviewed in Refs. 32 and 33). Kinugawa et al. (11) published that the stress-activated p38MAPK pathway was involved in overexpressed TR 1-induced pathologic, but not physiologic, cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. Kuzman et al. (19) showed increased phosphorylation of Akt, p70S6K, and mTOR in hypertrophied hearts of thyroxine-treated animals. These latter observations are consistent with recent reports supporting a role for the PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway in regulating mammalian cell size and in promoting physiologic cardiac hypertrophy in response to insulin and IGF-1 (34). Thyroid hormones have been reported to stimulate PI3K activity in skin fibroblasts and endothelial cells by non-nuclear mechanisms (12, 13). These observations together with our recently published data showing cytoplasmic localization of TR 1 (9, 10) provided the rationale to propose that thyroid hormone-induced physiologic cardiac growth is mediated by activating the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway through cytosol-localized TR 1.
In support of this hypothesis the present study shows co-immunoprecipitation of TR mTOR has been shown to be important in maintaining cell size by regulating ribosomal biogenesis and protein translation (reviewed in Refs. 29, 36). Regulation of mTOR signaling is linked to PI3K/Akt by the tuberous sclerosis complex. As might be expected, activation of Akt by T3 resulted in the phosphorylation of mTOR in a time frame consistent with its location downstream of Akt in the signaling pathway. This effect was inhibited by wortmannin, further supporting the observed stimulatory effect of T3 on PI3K activity. Two downstream targets of mTOR, 4E-BP1 and S6K1, are important regulators of protein translation, and their regulation by phosphorylation enables protein synthesis to proceed commensurate with growth factor and nutrient availability (28). Thus, phosphorylation of 4E-BP1 can be used as a measure of signaling through the mTOR pathway. In response to T3, phosphorylation of 4E-BP1 was observed at a later time point than mTOR phosphorylation (25 versus 15 min). 4E-BP1 plays a key regulatory role in the initiation of protein translation by binding to and inhibiting eIF4E initiation complex formation when it is hypophosphorylated, as would occur in cells deprived of growth factors (reviewed in Refs. 28, 29, 36). Phosphorylation of 4E-BP1 relieves its inhibitory effect, thus enabling translation initiation to occur as would potentially be the case in T3-treated cardiomyocytes. The S6 kinases are also important regulators of protein translation by virtue of their ability to phosphorylate a 40 S ribosomal subunit protein, S6, which enables the translation of mRNAs containing a 5'-terminal oligopyrimidine track (37). In the present studies, T3 stimulated phosphorylation of p70S6K, followed by sustained phosphorylation of S6 protein. These effects were blocked by both wortmannin and rapamycin, suggesting that T3-mediated phosphorylation and activation of PI3K and mTOR were necessary for this response. These data support a direct role of T3 in stimulating translation initiation and perhaps a more important function of thyroid hormone in maintaining a basal level of protein synthesis under physiological euthyroid conditions.
The p85 variant of S6K1 was also phosphorylated by T3 treatment, but unlike p70S6K this response was not inhibited by PI3K inhibitors (LY294002 or wortmannin) or by inhibition of mTOR by rapamycin. Furthermore, overexpression of a PI3K mutant ( Recent studies addressing the non-nuclear, non-transcriptional actions of thyroid hormones, whether through cytosolic receptors or through membrane-initiated processes (39, 40), may provide answers to many previously unexplained actions of these hormones (2427). Similar to other steroid hormones like estrogens (23), the nuclear and cytosolic activities of thyroid hormones are likely to be a part of a complementary regulatory network involved in the maintenance of normal cellular function. Results from the present study support cytosolic actions of thyroid hormone that can be rapid in onset but potentially have long-term effects in the maintenance of normal cell growth.
* This work was supported by NHLBI, National Institutes of Health Grant HL-071623. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact. 1 To whom correspondence should be addressed: The Feinstein Inst. for Medical Research, 350 Community Dr., Manhasset, NY 11030. Tel.: 516-562-1591; Fax: 516-562-1022; E-mail: kojamaa{at}nshs.edu.
2 The abbreviations used are: PI3K, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase; mTOR, mammalian target of rapamycin; m.o.i., multiplicity of infection; MyHC, myosin heavy chain; IP, immunoprecipitate; T3, tri-iodo-L-thyronine.
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