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

PKClambda is implicated as a downstream effector of PI3K in insulin action. We show here that mice that lack PKClambda specifically in the liver (L-lambdaKO 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-lambdaKO 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 PKClambda and was mimicked by overexpression of WT PKClambda. Restoration of PKClambda expression in the liver of L-lambdaKO mice with the use of adenovirus-mediated gene transfer corrected the metabolic abnormalities of these animals. Hepatic PKClambda is thus a determinant of hepatic lipid content and whole-body insulin sensitivity.