Insulin suppression of apolipoprotein B in McArdle RH7777 cells involves increased sortilin 1 interaction and lysosomal targeting

► Insulin suppresses VLDL B100 secretion via PI3K in McArdle RH7777 rat hepatoma cells. ► Insulin enhances sortilin 1–B100 interaction. ► Inhibition of lysosomal degradation by BafA1 blocks insulin suppression of VLDL B100. ► BafA1 inhibition reveals increased insulin-dependent sortilin 1–B100 interaction. ► Sortilin 1–B100 interaction likely mediates insulin-dependent B100 degradation. Insulin suppresses secretion of very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) apolipoprotein (apo) B in primary rodent hepatocytes (RH) by favoring the degradation of B100, the larger form of apo B, through post-endoplasmic reticulum proteolysis. Sortilin 1 (sort1), a multi-ligand sorting receptor, has been proposed as a mediator of lysosomal B100 degradation by directing B100 in pre-VLDL to lysosomes rather than allowing maturation to VLDL and secretion. The purpose of our studies was to investigate the role of sort1 in insulin-dependent degradation of apo B. Using liver derived McArdle RH7777 (McA) cells, we demonstrate that insulin suppresses VLDL B100 secretion via a phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) dependent process that is inhibitable by wortmannin in a fashion similar to RH. Using McA cells and in situ cross-linking, we demonstrate that insulin acutely (30min) stimulates the interaction of B100 with sort1. The insulin-induced interaction of sort1–B100 is markedly enhanced when lysosomal degradation is inhibited by Bafilomycin A1 (BafA1), an inhibitor of lysosomal acidification. As BafA1 also prevents insulin suppressive effects on apo B secretion, our results suggest that sort1–B100 interaction stimulated by insulin transiently accumulates with BafA1 and favors B100 secretion by default.