Requirement of protein kinase C zeta for stimulation of protein synthesis by insulin

The ability of insulin to stimulate protein synthesis and cellular growth is mediated through the insulin receptor (IR), which phosphorylates Tyr residues in the insulin receptor substrate-signaling proteins (IRS-1 and IRS-2), Gab-1, and Shc. These phosphorylated substrates directly bind and activate enzymes such as phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase (PI3K) and the guanine nucleotide exchange factor for p21Ras (GRB-2/SOS), which are in turn required for insulin-stimulated protein synthesis, cell cycle progression, and prevention of apoptosis. We have now shown that one or more members of the atypical protein kinase C group, as exemplified by the zeta isoform (PKC zeta), are downstream of IRS-1 and P13K and mediate the effect of insulin on general protein synthesis. Ectopic expression of constitutively activated PKC zeta eliminates the requirement of IRS-1 for general protein synthesis but not for insulin-stimulated activation of 70-kDa S6 kinase (p70S6K), synthesis of growth-regulated proteins (e.g., c-Myc), or mitogenesis. The fact that PKC zeta stimulates general protein synthesis but not activation of p70S6K indicates that PKC zeta activation does not involve the proto-oncogene Akt, which is also activated by PI3K. Yet insulin is still required for the stimulation of general protein synthesis in the presence of constitutively active PKC zeta and in the absence of IRS-1, suggesting a requirement for the convergence of the IRS-1/PI3K/PKC zeta pathway with one or more additional pathways emanating from the IR, e.g., Shc/SOS/p21Ras/mitogen-activated protein kinase. Thus, PI3K appears to represent a bifurcation in the insulin signaling pathway, one branch leading through PKC zeta to general protein synthesis and one, through Akt and the target of rapamycin (mTOR), to growth-regulated protein synthesis and cell cycle progression.