Available evidence suggests that insulin-like growth factor I receptor (IGF-IR) expression leads to increased cellular radioresistance. The most direct explanation of these findings predicts that IGF-IR is the source of survival signals in resistant cells. Mutational analysis revealed that protein truncated at amino acid 1245 in the C-terminus retained the ability of IGF-IR to confer radioresistance whereas point mutations at both Tyr-1250 and Tyr-1251 abrogated this effect using IGF-IR-deficient mouse embryo fibroblasts (R-) as a recipient. In cells expressing the latter mutant receptors, both phosphatidylinositol-3' kinase (PI3-K) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways remained intact, and addition,of exogenous IGF-I could not change the radiosensitivity of these cells. Further analysis indicated that the abrogation of radioresistance required the presence of His-1293 and Lys-1294. These results suggest a novel regulatory role of the C-terminus of IGF-IR in mediating cellular radioresistance that may be independent of survival signals transmitted through this receptor. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.