PKCλ in liver mediates insulin-induced SREBP-1c expression and determines both hepatic lipid content and overall insulin sensitivity

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Abstract

PKCλ is implicated as a downstream effector of PI3K in insulin action. We show here that mice that lack PKCλ specifically in the liver (L-λKO mice), produced with the use of the Cre-loxP system, exhibit increased insulin sensitivity as well as a decreased triglyceride content and reduced expression of the sterol regulatory element–binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c) gene in the liver. Induction of the hepatic expression of Srebp1c and of its target genes involved in fatty acid/triglyceride synthesis by fasting and refeeding or by hepatic expression of an active form of PI3K was inhibited in L-λKO mice compared with that in control animals. Expression of Srebp1c induced by insulin or by active PI3K in primary cultured rat hepatocytes was inhibited by a dominant-negative form of PKCλ and was mimicked by overexpression of WT PKCλ. Restoration of PKCλ expression in the liver of L-λKO mice with the use of adenovirus-mediated gene transfer corrected the metabolic abnormalities of these animals. Hepatic PKCλ is thus a determinant of hepatic lipid content and whole-body insulin sensitivity.

Authors

Michihiro Matsumoto, Wataru Ogawa, Kazunori Akimoto, Hiroshi Inoue, Kazuaki Miyake, Kensuke Furukawa, Yoshitake Hayashi, Haruhisa Iguchi, Yasushi Matsuki, Ryuji Hiramatsu, Hitoshi Shimano, Nobuhiro Yamada, Shigeo Ohno, Masato Kasuga, Tetsuo Noda