Mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 is an essential mediator of metabolic and mitogenic effects of fibroblast growth factor 19 in hepatoma cells

Fibroblast growth factor 19 (FGF19) is an important postprandial enterokine which regulates liver metabolism and hepatocyte proliferation. However, the precise mechanism by which FGF19 regulates these cellular effects is poorly understood. Given that mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) regulates numerous postprandial adaptations, we investigated the potential role of mTORC1 in FGF19 action. We found that FGF19 activated mTORC1 in HepG2 and HuH7 human hepatoma cells, differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes and mouse liver. FGF19 activates the mTORC1-p70S6K and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk)-p90RSK pathways independently to regulate S6 in an additive manner in hepatoma cells, but it uses mTORC1 as the primary pathway to regulate S6 in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Thus, mTORC1 is a novel mediator of FGF19 signaling, which can act in parallel with Erk or function as the primary pathway to regulate S6. The FGF19-induced mTORC1 pathway requires amino acids for efficient signaling; thus, involvement of mTORC1 confers amino acid sensitivity to FGF19 signaling. Although Akt and Erk are known to activate mTORC1, we found that FGF19 signals to mTORC1 through a third recently identified mTORC1 regulator, Ras-like (Ral) protein. Pharmacological or genetic inhibition of RalA or RalB abolished FGF19-induced mTORC1 activation, demonstrating that Ral proteins are required for FGF19 to activate mTORC1. FGF19 induced metabolic gene expression, fatty acid oxidation, cell growth, and proliferation in HepG2 cells; and these effects were abolished by mTORC1 inhibition, demonstrating an essential role of mTORC1 in FGF19 action.mTORC1 is a novel and essential mediator of FGF19 action on metabolic and mitogenic programs; thus, the involvement of mTORC1 in FGF19 signaling is an important factor to consider when targeting the pathway for cancer or diabetes therapy. (Hepatology 2016;64:1289-1301).