Insulin receptor degradation is accelerated in cultured lymphocytes from patients with genetic syndromes of extreme insulin resistance.

Previous studies of the insulin receptor in disease states have utilized primarily techniques of equilibrium binding and, to a limited extent structural, analysis. Though techniques have been developed to study receptor degradation in normal cells, they have not been applied to disease states. In the present study we have examined insulin receptor degradation rate in B lymphocytes that were obtained from peripheral blood of normal subjects and patients with several syndromes of extreme insulin resistance. B lymphocytes were established in culture from each patient's peripheral cells by transformation with Epstein-Barr virus. The insulin receptors were surface labeled using Na125I/lactoperoxidase and the cells were returned to incubate in growth media. After varying periods of incubation, aliquots of cells were solubilized and the cell content of labeled receptor subunits were measured by immunoprecipitation with anti-receptor antibodies and NaDodSO4/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The fall in 125I-insulin receptor content approximated a single exponential and was quantitated as receptor subunit half-life (t1/2). In cell lines from four patients in whom the number of insulin receptors was reduced by greater than 90%, the rate of receptor loss was greater than normal (t1/2 equals 3.8 +/- 0.9 h vs. 6.5 +/- 1.2 h; mean +/- SD, P less than 0.01). However, a similar acceleration in receptor degradation was seen in cells from five patients with extreme insulin resistance but low-normal insulin receptor concentration (t1/2 equals 4.4 +/- 0.9 h). This group included cells from one patient with a qualitatively abnormal receptor. Thus, all the patients with genetic syndromes of insulin resistance had accelerated receptor degradation, regardless of their receptor concentration. By contrast, insulin receptors on cultured lymphocytes that were obtained from patients with extreme insulin resistance secondary to autoantibodies to the insulin receptor had normal receptor degradation (t1/2 equals 6.1 +/- 1.9 h). We conclude that (a) accelerated insulin receptor degradation is an additional feature of cells from patients with genetic forms of insulin resistance; (b) that accelerated insulin receptor degradation may explain the low-normal receptor concentrations that were seen in some patients with extreme insulin resistance; and (c) that accelerated degradation does not explain the decreased receptor concentration in patients with very low insulin receptor binding and, therefore, by inference, a defect in receptor synthesis must be present in this subgroup.