The insulin-like growth factor I receptor is required for Akt activation and suppression of anoikis in cells transformed by the ETV6-NTRK3 chimeric tyrosine kinase

Signaling through the insulin-like growth factor I receptor (IGF-IR) axis is essential for transformation by many dominantly acting oncoproteins. However, the mechanism by which IGF-IR contributes to oncogenesis remains unknown. To examine this, we compared transformation properties of the oncogenic ETV6-NTRK3 (EN) chimeric tyrosine kinase in IGF-IR-null R- mouse embryo fibroblasts with R- cells engineered to reexpress IGF-IR (R+ cells). We previously showed that R- cells expressing EN (R- EN cells) are resistant to transformation but that transformation is restored in R+ cells. We now show that while R- EN cells have intact Ras-extracellular signal-regulated kinase signaling and cell cycle progression, they are defective in phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)-Akt activation and undergo detachment-induced apoptosis (anoikis) under anchorage-independent conditions. In contrast, R+ cells expressing EN (R+ EN cells) suppress anoikis and are fully transformed. The requirement for IGF-IR in R- EN cells is overcome by ectopic expression of either activated Akt or a membrane-targeted form of EN. Moreover, compared to R- EN cells, R+ EN cells show a dramatic increase in membrane localization of insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1) in association with EN. Since EN is known to bind IRS-1 as an adaptor protein, our findings suggest that IGF-IR may function to localize EN/IRS-1 complexes to cell membranes, in turn facilitating PI3K-Akt activation and suppression of anoikis.