The receptor for the type 1 insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I) regulates multiple cellular functions impacting on the metastatic phenotype of tumor cells, including cellular proliferation, anchorage-independent growth, survival, migration, synthesis of the 72-kDa type IV collagenase and invasion. We have used site-directed mutagenesis to generate domain-specific mutants of the receptor ␤ subunit to analyze the role of specific tyrosines in the regulation of the invasive/metastatic phenotype.

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... rly invasive M-27 carcinoma cells expressing low receptor numbers were transfected with a plasmid vector expressing IGF-I receptor cDNA in which single or multiple tyrosine codons in the kinase domain, namely Tyr-1131, Tyr-1135, and Tyr-1136 or the C-terminal tyrosines 1250 and 1251 were substituted with phenylalanine. Changes in the invasive and metastatic properties were analyzed relative to M-27 cells expressing the wild type receptor. We found that cells expressing the Y1131F,Y1135F,Y1136F or Y1135F receptor mutants lost all IGF-IR-dependent functions and their phenotypes were indistinguishable from, or suppressed relative to, the parent line. The Y1250F,Y1251F substitution abolished anchorage-independent growth, cell spreading, and the anti-apoptotic effect of IGF-I whereas all other IGF-IR-dependent phenotypes were either unperturbed (i.e. mitogenicity) or only partially reduced (migration and invasion). The results identify three types of receptor-dependent functions in this model: those dependent only on an intact kinase domain (DNA synthesis), those dependent equally on kinase domain and Tyr-1250/1251 signaling (e.g. apoptosis, soft agar cloning) and those dependent on kinase domain and enhanced through Tyr-1250/1251 signaling (migration, invasion). They suggest that signals derived from both regions of the receptor cooperate to enhance tumor metastasis.