Type-1 parathyroid hormone (PTH)/PTH-related peptide (PTHrP) receptors activate phospholipase C in response to carboxyl-truncated analogs of PTH(1-34)

The carboxyl(C)-truncated human (h) PTH (hPTH) analog hPTH(1-31), which activates adenylyl cyclase (AC), but not protein kinase C, in rat osteosarcoma cells, exerts an anabolic effect on rat bone in vivo similar to that of hPTH(1-34). It has been proposed, therefore, that this action of PTH(1-34) is mediated exclusively by stimulation of AC via the rat type-1 PTH/PTH-related peptide (PTHrP) receptor (PTH1R). To determine whether this selective signaling pattern also might be a property of the hPTH1R, we studied signal transduction via heterologously expressed hPTH1Rs in response to activation by hPTH(1-34), hPTH(1-31), and a C-truncated analog that does not increase rat bone mass in vivo, hPTH(1-30). In porcine LLC-PK1 cells that stably expressed recombinant hPTH1Rs, these three peptides activated AC identically (EC50 = 1-2 nM). In cells with comparable expression of rat PTH1Rs, AC activation by hPTH(1-34) and hPTH(1-31) again was identical, whereas full activation by hPTH(1-30) required higher concentrations (EC50 = 10 nM vs. 1 nM). Surprisingly, hPTH(1-31) fully stimulated phospholipase C (PLC), via both species of PTH1Rs, with potency that was similar (hPTH1Rs) or slightly reduced (rat PTH1Rs), relative to that of hPTH(1-34). hPTH(1-30), however, was 5-fold less potent than hPTH(1-34) in activating PLC via hPTH1Rs and showed weak and only partial activity via the rat PTH1R. Comparable results were obtained when human and rat PTH1Rs were transiently expressed heterologously in COS-7 cells or homologously in HEK 293 and UMR 106-01 cells, respectively. Binding affinities of these C-truncated peptides to human and rat PTH1Rs were concordant with their relative potencies in activating PLC. We conclude that hPTH(1-31) and, to a lesser extent, hPTH(1-30) can activate PLC, as well as AC, via both rat and human PTH1Rs. Accordingly, a role for PLC activation in the anabolic action of PTH in vivo cannot be excluded.