Homologous and heterologous mitogenic desensitization of Swiss 3T3 cells to phorbol esters and vasopressin: role of receptor and postreceptor steps.

Prolonged treatment of Swiss 3T3 cells with phorbol 12,13 dibutyrate (PDB) rendered the cells refractory to subsequent mitogenic stimulation by both PDB and vasopressin. In contrast, the cells retained full responsiveness to a wide variety of other mitogens. An early response to vasopressin and phorbol esters, inhibition of (125I)-labeled epidermal growth factor [(125I)-EGF] binding, was also substantially decreased in PDB pretreated cells. The cross desensitization was not produced by vasopressin; this ligand induced homologous but not heterologous desensitization. Exposure of Swiss 3T3 cells to PDB caused a down regulation of (3H)-PDB receptors but did not reduce the binding of vasopressin to refractory cells. The time-course (t1/2 = 7 h) and dependence on PDB concentration (half maximal at 20 nM) for this phorbol ester receptor loss paralleled the induction of the mitogenic desensitizations to both PDB and vasopressin. However, the time-course of recovery revealed an important dissociation between receptor presence and mitogenic response. When Swiss 3T3 cultures, which had been pretreated with PDB, were washed to remove this ligand and incubated in its absence for 24 h, both (3H)-PDB receptors and PDB or vasopressin inhibition of (125I)-EGF binding were almost completely restored to control levels. However the homologous and heterologous mitogenic desensitizations showed a very different reversal time. After a 24-h recovery period PDB-treated refractory cells were still unable to synthesize DNA in response to PDB or vasopressin. The mitogenic desensitizations were however completely reversible; after a 48-h incubation in the absence of PDB the cells responded fully to the mitogenic actions of PDB or vasopressin. This finding suggests that a further postreceptor step was also desensitized by prolonged PDB treatment. The presence of a low level of cycloheximide during the PDB pretreatment blocked induction of this postreceptor refractoriness. We propose that this refractory postreceptor step selectively blocks both PDB and vasopressin stimulation of DNA synthesis and may represent the point at which the mitogenic pathways of phorbol esters and vasopressin converge.