Leptin activates PI-3 kinase in C2C12 myotubes via janus kinase-2 (JAK-2) and insulin receptor substrate-2 (IRS-2) dependent pathways.

We have recently shown that leptin mimicks insulin effects on glucose transport and glycogen synthesis through a phosphatidylinositol-3 (PI) kinase dependent pathway in C2C12 myotubes. The aim of the present study was to identify the signalling path from the leptin receptor to the PI-3 kinase. We stimulated C2C12 myotubes with insulin (100 nmol/l, 5 min) or leptin (0.62 nmol/l, 10 min) and determined PI-3 kinase activity in immunoprecipitates with specific non-crossreacting antibodies against insulin-receptor substrate (IRS 1/IRS 2) and against janus kinase (JAK 1 and JAK 2). While insulin-stimulated PI-3 kinase activity is detected in IRS-1 and IRS-2 immunoprecipitates, leptin-stimulated PI-3 kinase activity is found only in IRS-2 immunoprecipitates, suggesting that the leptin signal to PI-3 kinase occurs via IRS-2 and not IRS-1. Leptin-, but not insulin-stimulated PI-3 kinase activity is also detected in immunoprecipitates with antibodies against JAK-2, but not JAK-1. The data suggest that JAK-2 and IRS-2 couple the leptin signalling pathway to the insulin signalling chain. Since we have also detected leptin-stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of JAK-2 and IRS-2 in C2C12 myotubes it can be assumed that leptin activates JAK-2 which induces tyrosine phosphorylation of IRS-2 leading to activation of PI-3 kinase. As we could not detect the long leptin receptor isoform in C2C12 myotubes we conclude that this signalling pathway is activated by a short leptin receptor isoform.