Regulation of translational effectors by amino acid and mammalian target of rapamycin signaling pathways. Possible involvement of autophagy in cultured hepatoma cells.

Amino acid deprivation of Chinese hamster ovary cells overexpressing human insulin receptors results in deactivation of p70 S6 kinase (p70) and dephosphorylation of eukaryotic initiation factor 4E-binding protein 1 (4E-BP1), which become unresponsive to insulin; readdition of amino acids restores these responses in a rapamycin-sensitive manner, suggesting that amino acids and mammalian target of rapamycin signal through common effectors. Contrarily, withdrawal of medium amino acids from the hepatoma cell line H4IIE does not abolish the ability of insulin to stimulate p70 and 4E-BP1. The addition of 3-methyladenine (3MA) to H4IIE cells deprived of amino acids inhibited the increment in protein degradation caused by amino acid withdrawal nearly completely at 10 mM and also strongly inhibited the ability of insulin to stimulate p70 and 4E-BP1 at 10 mM. Treatment of H4IIE cells with 3MA did not alter the ability of insulin to activate tyrosine phosphorylation, phosphoinositide 3-kinase, or mitogen-activated protein kinase. In conclusion, the ability of H4IIE cells to maintain the insulin responsiveness of the mammalian target of rapamycin-dependent signaling pathways impinging on p70 and 4E-BP1 without exogenous amino acids reflects the generation of amino acids endogenously through a 3MA-sensitive process, presumably autophagy, a major mechanism of facultative protein degradation in liver.