Increased insulin binding to erythrocytes in chronic liver disease.

125I-labeled insulin binding to peripheral human erythrocytes was studied in patients with chronic liver disease. The maximum specific 125I-labeled insulin binding was 12.10 +/- 1.13 %/4 x 10(9) cells (mean +/- SD, n = 10) in normal subjects, and significantly higher in cirrhotic patients (15.32 +/- 1.73 %, n = 11, P less than 0.01) but not in patients with acute and chronic hepatitis (11.44 +/- 2.10 %, n = 3 and 13.2 +/- 1.87 %, n = 7 respectively). The complication of diabetes mellitus significantly increased (P less than 0.05) the maximum insulin binding in chronic hepatitis. Scatchard analysis and average affinity analysis of the binding data suggest that increased insulin binding in cirrhotic patients is due to an increase in the number of insulin binding sites per erythrocytes. The complication of diabetes in chronic liver diseases results in an increase in affinity of insulin binding sites.