Michi Kondo

Plasma islet amyloid polypeptide (Amylin) levels and their responses to oral glucose in Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetic patients

SummaryFasting plasma islet amyloid polypeptide concentrations and their responses to an oral glucose load were determined in non-diabetic control subjects and patients with abnormal glucose tolerance in relation to the responses of insulin or C-peptide. Plasma islet amyloid polypeptide was measured by radioimmunoassay. In the non-diabetic control subjects, fasting plasma islet amyloid polypeptide was 6.4±0.5 fmol/ml (mean ± SEM) and was about 1/7 less in molar basis than in insulin. The fasting islet amyloid polypeptide level rose in obese patients and fell in patients with Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus. In non-obese patients with impaired glucose tolerance and Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetic patients without insulin therapy, the level was equal to that of the control subjects, but a low concentration of islet amyloid polypeptide relative to insulin or C-peptide was observed in the non-obese Type 2 diabetic group. The patterns of plasma islet amyloid polypeptide responses after oral glucose were similar to those of insulin or C-peptide. However, compared to non-obese patients, a hyper-response of islet amyloid polypeptide relative to C-peptide was noted in obese patients who had a hyper-response of insulin relative to C-peptide. This study suggests that basal hypo-secretion of islet amyloid polypeptide relative to insulin exists in non-obese Type 2 diabetes and that circulating islet amyloid polypeptide may act physiologically with insulin to modulate the glucose metabolism.

Insulin Wakayama: familial mutant insulin syndrome in Japan

SummaryWe describe a family from Japan displaying the mutant insulin syndrome with hyperinsulinaemia and an increased insulin: C-peptide molar ratio. Serum insulin isolated from several family members showed reduced in vitro biological activity, and analysis by high performance liquid chromatography revealed a peak co-eluting with human insulin and a second species of increased hydrophobicity co-migrating with the previously reported Insulin Wakayama. The insulin genes from the propositus were cloned and sequenced, revealing one normal allele; the second allele, encoding a leucine for valine amino acid substitution at position 3 of the insulin A chain, was similar to that previously described for Insulin Wakayama. Synthesized [LeuA3] insulin showed 0.14% of receptor binding activity on rat adipocytes and a 10-fold prolonged half-life in a somatostatin-infused dog compared with human insulin. The finding of the same mutant gene in two unrelated Japanese families suggests that Insulin Wakayama may be discovered in additional Japanese families with hyperinsulinaemia and/or diabetes.

Effect of calcium antagonists on reactive hypoglycemia associated with hyperinsulinemia

The clinical usefulness of calcium antagonists was studied in four patients with reactive hypoglycemia including two with alimentary and two with idiopathic. All patients had hyperresponses of plasma insulin (IRI) and C-peptide (CPR) during an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). A calcium antagonist (diltiazem 90 mg/d, or nifedipine 30 mg/d, or nicardipine 60 mg/d) was administered orally for about two months. After two months of treatment, plasma IRI and CPR responses during the OGTT were clearly suppressed in all patients and symptomatic reactive hypoglycemia disappeared. One month after the discontinuation of the treatment in two patients, plasma IRI and CPR responses during the OGTT became higher again and symptomatic reactive hypoglycemia recurred. In addition, an intravenous glucose tolerance test was performed before and after two months of the treatment with calcium antagonists in the two patients with reactive hypoglycemia and seven patients with hypertension, who were free from glucose intolerance and were also treated with a calcium antagonist. In these patients, plasma IRI and CPR responses were also reduced after the treatment compared with those before the treatment. These results suggest that calcium antagonists are useful as therapeutic agents for the treatment of reactive hypoglycemia associated with hyperinsulinemia, and that one of the main mechanisms of action of calcium antagonists is a direct action on the pancreatic B-cell to inhibit glucose-induced insulin release.

Use of In Vitro DNA Amplification to Screen Family Members for an Insulin Gene Mutation

The DNA polymerase chain reaction can be a powerful tool for amplifying selected segments of genomie DNA for investigation of point mutations that are inaccessible via classic restriction-fragment–length polymorphism analysis. We have applied this method to an analysis of the incidence of heterozygosity for the mutant insulin allele insulin Wakayama (A3 Val→Leu) in two unrelated Japanese families having the hyperinsulinemic mutant insulin syndrome. The results indicate that this method is simple, sensitive, and accurate and should be useful for screening larger (diabetic) populations to detect single-base substitutions in the insulin gene that lead to either altered (pro)insulin structure and/or insulin production.

From Clinical Studies of Diabetes to Molecular Biology. Identification of Abnormal Insulin "Insulin Wakayama".

The recent development of molecular biology enables us to identify three abnormal insulins (insulin Chicago, insulin LosAngeles and insulin Wakayama). In Japan, three pedigrees in which affected individuals secrete [LeuA3] insulin (insulin Wakayama) have been identified. In each family, hyperinsulinemia associated with an abnormally elevated insulin to C-peptide molar ratio was demonstrated to occur in an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance. In accordance with in vivo observations, semisynthetic [LeuA3] insulin demonstrated reduced in vitro receptor binding and biological activity relative to the human standard. The development of diabetes mellitus in affected family members was not uniform, was influenced by aging, and was different among families. Patients with impaired glucose tolerance demonstrated reduced insulin secretory reserve. Some of these features are thought to resemble the nature of noninsulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM).Therefore, insulin Wakayama may be an useful model for the study of the development of NIDDM.