Extracellular zinc activates p70 S6 kinase through the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase signaling pathway.

We have studied a possible role of extracellular zinc ion in the activation of p70S6k, which plays an important role in the progression of cells from the G(1) to S phase of the cell cycle. Treatment of Swiss 3T3 cells with zinc sulfate led to the activation and phosphorylation of p70S6k in a dose-dependent manner. The activation of p70S6k by zinc treatment was biphasic, the early phase being at 30 min followed by the late phase at 120 min. The zinc-induced activation of p70S6k was partially inhibited by down-regulation of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate-responsive protein kinase C (PKC) by chronic treatment with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, but this was not significant. Moreover, Go6976, a specific calcium-dependent PKC inhibitor, did not significantly inhibit the activation of p70S6k by zinc. These results demonstrate that the zinc-induced activation of p70S6k is not related to PKC. Also, extracellular calcium was not involved in the activation of p70S6k by zinc. Further characterization of the zinc-induced activation of p70S6k using specific inhibitors of the p70S6k signaling pathway, namely rapamycin, wortmannin, and LY294002, showed that zinc acted upstream of mTOR/FRAP/RAFT and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), because these inhibitors caused the inhibition of zinc-induced p70S6k activity. In addition, Akt, the upstream component of p70S6k, was activated by zinc in a biphasic manner, as was p70S6k. Moreover, dominant interfering alleles of Akt and PDK1 blocked the zinc-induced activation of p70S6k, whereas the lipid kinase activity of PI3K was potently activated by zinc. Taken together, our data suggest that zinc activates p70S6k through the PI3K signaling pathway.