New powerful insulin-like protein from human promyelocytic leukemia cells.

Potent insulin-like activity was found in the conditioned medium of human promyelocytic leukemia (HL-60) cells. The conditioned medium of HL-60 cells at high density stimulated [3H]glucose incorporation into lipids in rat adipocytes in a time- and dose-dependent manner. The dose-response curve for this factor was not parallel to that for insulin, and the maximal effect achieved was much greater than reached by insulin or multiplication-stimulating activity. Moreover, the maximal effect reached by either insulin or the conditioned medium was additive. The insulin-like activity was not suppressed in the presence of antiinsulin antibody. Insulin-like activity was not detectable by radioreceptor assay for insulin, suggesting that the factor does not act through the insulin receptor. The factor in the conditioned medium of HL-60 cells was heat stable and sensitive to trypsin. When the conditioned medium was subjected to gel filtration on a Sephadex G-100 column, the major part of insulin-like activity eluted in the position corresponding to an apparent molecular weight between RNAase and insulin markers. The remaining activity, approximately 10% of the total, appeared with a larger molecular weight species. On isoelectric focusing of the smaller molecular species, insulin-like activity was largely focused in the position corresponding to pI 7.8-8.2.