IL-1β impairs insulin-like growth factor I-induced differentiation and downstream activation signals of the insulin-like growth factor I receptor in myoblasts

Proinflammatory cytokines are elevated in disorders characterized by muscle wasting and weakness, such as inflammatory myopathies and AIDS wasting. We recently demonstrated that TNF-α impairs the ability of insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I to promote protein synthesis in muscle precursor cells. In this study we extend these findings by showing that low concentrations of IL-1β impair IGF-I-dependent differentiation of myoblasts, as assessed by expression of the muscle specific protein, myosin heavy chain. In the absence of exogenous IGF-I, IL-1β (1 ng/ml) did not impair muscle cell development. However, in the presence of IGF-I, 100-fold lower concentrations of IL-1β (0.01 ng/ml) significantly suppressed myoblast differentiation, protein synthesis, and myogenin expression. Increasing IL-1β to 1 ng/ml completely blocked the anabolic actions of IGF-I in murine C₂C₁₂ myoblasts. Similarly, IL-1β inhibited IGF-I-stimulated protein synthesis in primary porcine myoblasts. IL-1β impaired the actions of IGF-I at a point distal to the IGF receptor, and this was not due to IL-1β-induced cell death. Instead, IL-1β inhibited the ability of IGF-I to phosphorylate tyrosine residues on both of its downstream docking proteins, insulin receptor substrate 1 and insulin receptor substrate 2. These data establish that physiological concentrations of IL-1β block the ability of IGF-I to promote protein synthesis, leading to reduced expression of the myogenic transcription factor, myogenin, and the subsequent development of more mature differentiated cells that express myosin heavy chain. Collectively, the results are consistent with the notion that very low concentrations of IL-1β significantly impair myogenesis, but they are unable to do so in the absence of the growth factor IGF-I.