Regulation of overexpressed hexokinases in liver and islet cells

Glucokinase activation as antidiabetic therapy: effect of nutraceuticals and phytochemicals on glucokinase gene expression and enzymatic activity

Diabetes represents an important public health problem. Recently, new molecular targets have been identified and exploited to treat this disease. Due to its pivotal role in glucose homeostasis, glucokinase (GCK) is a promising target for the development of novel antidiabetic drugs; however, pharmacological agents that modulate GCK activity have been linked to undesirable side-effects, limiting its use. Interestingly, plants might be a valuable source of new therapeutic compounds with GCK-activating properties and presumably no adverse effects. In this review, we describe biochemical characteristics related to the physiological and pathological importance of GCK, as well as the mechanisms involved in its regulation at different molecular levels. Posteriorly, we present a compendium of findings supporting the potential use of nutraceuticals and phytochemicals in the management of diabetes through modulation of GCK expression and activity. Finally, we propose critical aspects to keep in mind when designing experiments to evaluate GCK modulation properly.

Assessing replication and beta cell function in adenovirally-transduced isolated rodent islets

Glucose homeostasis is primarily controlled by the endocrine hormones insulin and glucagon, secreted from the pancreatic beta and alpha cells, respectively. Functional beta cell mass is determined by the anatomical beta cell mass as well as the ability of the beta cells to respond to a nutrient load. A loss of functional beta cell mass is central to both major forms of diabetes (1-3). Whereas the declining functional beta cell mass results from an autoimmune attack in type 1 diabetes, in type 2 diabetes, this decrement develops from both an inability of beta cells to secrete insulin appropriately and the destruction of beta cells from a cadre of mechanisms. Thus, efforts to restore functional beta cell mass are paramount to the better treatment of and potential cures for diabetes. Efforts are underway to identify molecular pathways that can be exploited to stimulate the replication and enhance the function of beta cells. Ideally, therapeutic targets would improve both beta cell growth and function. Perhaps more important though is to identify whether a strategy that stimulates beta cell growth comes at the cost of impairing beta cell function (such as with some oncogenes) and vice versa. By systematically suppressing or overexpressing the expression of target genes in isolated rat islets, one can identify potential therapeutic targets for increasing functional beta cell mass (4-6). Adenoviral vectors can be employed to efficiently overexpress or knockdown proteins in isolated rat islets (4,7-15). Here, we present a method to manipulate gene expression utilizing adenoviral transduction and assess islet replication and beta cell function in isolated rat islets (Figure 1). This method has been used previously to identify novel targets that modulate beta cell replication or function (5,6,8,9,16,17).

Fundamental metabolic differences between hepatocytes and islet beta-cells revealed by glucokinase overexpression

Adenovirus-mediated overexpression of the glucose phosphorylating enzyme glucokinase causes large changes in glycolytic flux and glucose storage in isolated rat hepatocytes, but not in pancreatic islets. We have used the well-differentiated insulinoma cell line INS-1 to investigate the basis for these apparent cell-type specific differences. We find that 2- or 5-[3H]glucose usage is increased at low (</=5 mM) but not high glucose concentrations in INS-1 cells treated with a recombinant adenovirus containing the glucokinase cDNA (AdCMV-GKI), while glucose usage is increased at both low and high glucose concentrations in similarly treated hepatocytes. Utilization of 2-[3H]glucose in INS-1 cells is suppressed in glucokinase overexpressing INS-1 cells in a rapid, glucose concentration-dependent, and reversible fashion, while such regulation is largely absent in hepatocytes. Levels of hexose phosphates (glucose-6-phosphate, fructose-6-phosphate, and fructose-1,6-bisphosphate) were profoundly and rapidly elevated following the switch to high glucose in either AdCMV-GKI-treated INS-1 cells or hepatocytes relative to controls. In contrast, triose phosphate levels (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate + dihydroxyacetone phosphate) were much higher in AdCMV-GKI-treated INS-1 cells than in similarly treated hepatocytes, suggesting limited flux throught the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (G3PDH) step in the former cells. Hepatocytes were found to contain approximately 62 times more lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity than INS-1 cells, and this was reflected in a 3-fold increase in lactate production in AdCMV-GKI-treated hepatocytes relative to similarly treated INS-1 cells. Since the amounts of G3PDH activity in INS-1 and hepatocyte extracts are similar, we suggest that flux through this step in INS-1 cells is limited by failure to regenerate NAD in the LDH reaction and that a fundamental difference between hepatocytes and islet beta-cells is the limited capacity of the latter to metabolize glycolytic intermediates beyond the G3PDH step.