Regulation of geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate synthase in the proliferation of rat FRTL-5 cells: involvement of both cAMP-PKA and PI3-AKT pathways

We have reported that geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate (GGPP), one of the isoprenoids in the mevalonate pathway, plays an essential role for cell growth through the geranylgeranylation of Rho small GTPases, which control the degradation of P27Kip1 at G1/S transition in rat thyroid FRTL-5 cells. Since GGPP is synthesized from isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP) and farnesyl pyrophosphate (FPP) by GGPP synthase, we analyzed the regulatory roles of GGPP synthase in the proliferation of FRTL-5 cells stimulated by thyrotropin and insulin in the presence of 5% calf serum (TSH+Ins). We found that: (1) GGPP synthase was activated at G1/S transition with increasing mRNA accumulation followed by protein expression, (2) pravastatin, an inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase, did not suppress the increasing activity of GGPP synthase with its protein expression although it inhibits proliferation in growth-stimulated FRTL-5 cells, (3) forskolin stimulated proliferation with activation of GGPP synthase in FRTL-5 cells, and (4) LY294002, an inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, inhibited proliferation with the decreasing activity of GGPP synthase in growth-stimulated FRTL-5 cells. These data indicated that growth stimulation by TSH+Ins increased the activity of GGPP synthase with its increasing protein expression from G1/S transition, in which both cAMP-PKA and PI3-kinase pathways are involved in the proliferation of FRTL-5 cells.