Deletion of the pleckstrin and phosphotyrosine binding domains of insulin receptor substrate-2 does not impair its ability to regulate cell proliferation in myeloid cells.

32D IGF-I receptor (IR) cells are IL-3-dependent myeloid cells that can be induced to differentiate into granulocytes by IGF-I. Like the parental 32D cells, 32D IGF-IR cells do not express the insulin receptor substrate (IRS)-1 or IRS-2. We investigated the effect of ectopic expression of IRS-2 in 32D IGF-IR cells. Expression in these cells of a wild-type IRS-2 inhibits IGF-I-induced differentiation, and the cells grow indefinitely in the absence of IL-3. We also investigated the effect of a mutant IRS-2 lacking both the pleckstrin (PH) and the phosphotyrosine-binding (PTB) domains, which are known to bind to the IR. The partial differentialPHPTB IRS-2 is fully as capable as the wild-type IRS-2 (and wild-type IRS-1) to stimulate the growth and inhibit the differentiation of 32D IGF-IR cells. In contrast, an IRS-1 protein lacking the same PH and PTB domains is completely inactive in blocking differentiation and stimulating IL-3-independent growth of 32D IGF-IR cells. The partial differentialPHPTB IRS-2 protein is dependent for its effect on an activated IGF-IR, is cytoplasmic, binds to the beta-subunit of the IGF-IR, and requires for its action the presence of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase binding sequences. These experiments show that the PH and PTB domains of IRS-2 (but not IRS-1) are dispensable for the IGF-I/IRS-2-mediated growth of 32D myeloid cells. Our results also indicate that IRS-2 (either wild type or partial differentialPHPTB) is capable of inhibiting the differentiation of 32D cells.