H2O2 and vanadate are known insulinomimetic agents. Together they induce insulin's bioeffects with a potency which exceeds that seen with insulin, vanadate or H2O2 alone. We have previously shown that a combination of H2O2 and vanadate, when added to intact cells, rapidly stimulates protein tyrosine phosphorylation, owing to the inhibitory effects of these agents on intracellular protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPases). Employing Western blotting with anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies, we have now identified in Chinese-hamster ovary (CHO) cells transfected with a wild-type insulin-receptor gene (CHO.T cells) several proteins (e.g. pp180, 125, 100, 60 and 52) whose phosphotyrosine content is rapidly increased upon treatment of the cells with a combination of insulin and 3 mM-H2O2. Tyrosine phosphorylation of these and additional proteins was further potentiated when 100 microM-sodium orthovanadate was added together with H2O2. The effects of insulin, insulin/H2O2, and H2O2/vanadate on tyrosine phosphorylation were markedly decreased in CHO cells transfected with an insulin-receptor gene where the twin tyrosines 1162 and 1163 were replaced with phenylalanine (CHO.YF-3 cells). Similarly, most of these proteins failed to undergo enhanced tyrosine phosphorylation in parental CHO cells incubated in the presence of insulin or the insulinomimetic agents. Our findings suggest that inhibition of PTPase activity by H2O2/vanadate augments the autophosphorylation of tyrosines 1162 and 1163 of the insulin receptor kinase, leading to its activation in an insulin-independent manner. As a result, tyrosine phosphorylation of potential targets for this enzyme takes place. Failure of H2O2/vanadate to induce phosphorylation of these proteins in receptor mutants lacking these twin tyrosine residues supports this hypothesis.
In vitro tyrosine phosphorylation studies on RAS proteins and calmodulin suggest that polylysine-like basic peptides or domains may be involved in interactions between insulin receptor kinase and its substrate.