Secretion of the extracellular domain of the human insulin receptor from insect cells by use of a baculovirus vector

To explore the utility of the baculovirus/insect-cell system for the expression of a soluble secreted human insulin-receptor (hIR) extracellular ligand-binding domain, we have engineered a recombinant virus encoding an hIR deletion mutant which is truncated eight residues from the beginning of the predicted transmembrane domain (i.e. 921 residues). Within 24 h after infection of Sf9 cells with virus, insulin-binding activity begins to accumulate in the culture medium, and reaches a maximum between 48 and 72 h. The intracellular transit and processing of this secreted receptor, designated ‘AchIR01’, is quite slow. After 24 h in pulse-chase experiments approximately 50% of the metabolically labelled protein is still inside the cell. This protein accumulates as a non-cleaved hIR precursor which is glycosylated, but the carbohydrate is entirely endoglycosidase H (endoH)-sensitive (i.e. high mannose). Approximately one-half of the receptor in the culture medium (i.e. approximately 25% of the total) is in the form of non-cleaved precursor, and about one half of its carbohydrate chains are now endoH-resistant. The remainder of the protein is proteolytically processed hIR (alpha-plus truncated beta-subunits). None of these hIR species exhibit O-linked carbohydrate. Only the processed form of the receptor in the medium binds insulin. This insulin-binding protein is secreted as a dimer (alpha beta)2, and binds insulin with an affinity which is comparable with that of both the wild-type hIR as well as the secreted form of the hIR expressed in mammalian cells. Despite the rather inefficient processing and altered glycosylation of the AchIR01 protein in insect cells, this high-affinity insulin-binding protein accumulates in the medium at levels (mg/litre) of about 100 times that achieved in a mammalian-cell system.