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Proinsulin and A-component antibodies in diabetics after long-term monocomponent insulin treatment.

In newly diagnosed diabetics treated with Monotard (porcine monocomponent (MC) Lente insulin) for five years, no antibodies against porcine or bovine proinsulin were observed, but 2 of 13 subjects developed a-component antibodies. In newly diagnosed diabetics, treatment for the same period with conventional Lente insulin induced both proinsulin and a-component antibodies (in 5 and 8 of 10 cases, respectively). In 31 patients transferred from conventional Lente to Monotard, proinsulin and a-component antibody levels were significantly lower than in 22 patients maintained on conventional Lente after the 5-year follow-up period. No significant differences were noted between bovine and procine proinsulin antibodies. Insulin antibody production was similar to that of proinsulin antibody.

Adolescent

Glucose stimulated proinsulin biosynthesis rates of turn off after cessation of the stimulus.

Proinsulin biosynthesis was stimulated progressively to a plateau level at 45 min by 5.5 mmol/1 glucose. The rate of biosynthesis promptly decreased following cessation of either 15 or 60 min exposure to this concentration of glucose. Actinomycin D had no effect on the rate of decline. In contrast, exposure to 20 mmol/1 glucose caused a prolonged increase in proinsulin biosynthesis which was still apparent at 75 min. After removal of the stimulus there was an initial decrease in the rate of proinsulin biosynthesis followed by persistently elevated rates. When proinsulin biosynthesis was stimulated by 20 mmol/1 glucose in the presence of actinomycin D, there was a rapid switch off of biosynthesis and no persistent effect. Thus, two controls for regulation of proinsulin biosynthesis can be characterised: a prompt, rapidly reversible stimulation in response to low or high glucose concentrations and a persistent stimulation in response to high glucose concentrations. These two effects may represent the translational and transcriptional effects of glucose respectively.

Animals

Inhibition by kynurenine metabolites of proinsulin synthesis in isolated pancreatic islets.

The effect of kynurenine metabolites on insulin biosynthesis was investigated in isolated pancreatic islets of the rat. Both quinaldic acid and 8-hydroxyquinaldic acid were found to produce significant inhibition of the proinsulin synthesis. However, the conversion process of proinsulin to insulin in the islet was not affected by these kynurenine metabolites. Furthermore, the inhibitory effect of these end-metabolites of dynurenine was characterized by preferential inhibition of proinsulin synthesis as distinct from non-insulin protein synthesis in the islet. In contrast to the significant inhibitory effect of quinaldic acid and 8-hydroxyquinaldic acid on proinsulin synthesis, xanthurenic acid and kynurenic acid were far less effective, and L-tryptophan, L-kynurenine, 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid and quinolinic acid showed little ability to inhibit proinsulin synthesis in islets.

Animals

Metabolic signals produced by purine ribonucleosides stimulate proinsulin biosynthesis and insulin secretion.

Inosine, guanosine and adenosine strongly stimulated proinsulin biosynthesis and insulin secretion in isolated mouse pancreatic islets. None of the purine ribonucleosides stimulated insulin secretion in rat islets, although as reported [jain & Logothetopoulos (1977) Endocrinilogy 100, 923-927] inosine and guanosine, but no adenosine, were potent stimulants of proinsulin biosynthesis in this species. The purine bases had no effect in either species. D-Ribose, which enhanced proinsulin biosynthesis at 0.3 and 0.6 mM but not at 5mM in rat pancreatic islets [jain & Logothetopoulos (1977) Endocrinology 100, 923-927], produced no secretory signals in rat islets and was without any effect on proinsulin biosynthesis and insulin secretion in mouse islets. The rates of oxidation of 14C-labelled purine ribonucleosides and D-ribose in islets of the two species correlated well with their effectiveness as inducers of insulin secretion and proinsulin biosynthesis. Specific inhibitors of purine ribonucleoside phosphorylase, adenosine deaminiase and of purine ribonucleoside transport suppressed the stimulatory effects of nucleosides in pancreatic islets without altering the effect of D-glucose. The same inhibitors also markedly diminished the oxidation rats of the labelled purine ribonucleosides. The experiments clearly indicate that porinsulin biosynthesis and insulin secretion are modulated through metabolic signals and not through interactions of intact substrate molecules with cell receptors.

Animals

Changes in the proportions of plasma insulin, proinsulin and a higher-molecular-weight insulin during pre- and post-operative glucose-infusion tests.

1. Glucose-infusion tests were performed on patients admitted for elective upper abdominal surgery 1 day before and 1 day after operation. In addition to insulin and proinsulin, a third immunoreactive insulin species of mol. wt. 20 000--30 000 was detected in plasma from two patients. The heterogeneity of plasma immunoreactive insulin (IRI) and the need to consider the effects of all forms, including proinsulin and the high-molecular-weight species, is emphasized. 2. During preoperative glucose infusions there was an increase in the percentage of the total plasma IRI present as high-molecular-weight forms (i.e. proinsulin plus the species of mol. wt. 20 000--30 000) from 3.9% to 10.8%. On the first postoperative morning all patients showed an increase in the amounts of the heavier IRI types, which accounted for 13.9% of the total plasma IRI. 3. The changes in insulin and proinsulin are consistent with the release from the pancreas of an insulin/proinsulin mixture of constant proportions, and the longer circulating half-life of proinsulin. 4. Increases in the amounts of high-molecular-weight IRI species after surgery may have a partial role in the development of insulin resistance but are probably not a major determinant of the insulin-resistant state.

Adult

Insulin secretion and glucose uptake by isolated islets of the hamster. Effect of insulin, proinsulin and C-peptide.

Isolated pancreatic islets of normal hamsters were perifused either in a closed or in a open system. When the buffer was recirculated and the endogenous insulin was allowed to accumulate, the islets secreted significantly less insulin than when the system was open and the endogenous insulin was washed away. The addition of monocomponent insulin or of proinsulin to the perifusion buffer significantly decreased insulin secretion. The inhibitory action of proinsulin was significantly greater than that of monocomponent insulin. C peptide had no effect. When pancreatic islets were incubated in a fixed volume of stationary buffer containing unlabeled glucose (1.0 mg or 3.0 mg/ml) and glucose-U-14C (1.0 muC/ml), the amount of insulin secreted and the 14CO2 produced by each islet decreased progressively as the number of islets in the sample increased. Under these conditions, the concentration of insulin required to inhibit insulin secretion increased with the concentration of glucose in the medium. Proinsulin did not alter the incorporation of leucine-4.5(-3). H into total extractable insulin (insulin + proinsulin). Thus, insulin and proinsulin appear to inhibit insulin release, but not insulin synthesis.

Animals

Stimulation of proinsulin biosynthesis by purine-ribonucleosides and D-ribose.

Inosine and guanosine were potent stimuli of proinsulin biosynthesis ([3H]leucine incorporation) in isolated pancreatic islets of the rat. The effect was nearly abolished by formycin B, an inhibitor of purine nucleoside phosphorylase, but not by D-mannoheptulose. The corresponding bases had no effect on the rate of proinsulin biosynthesis. D-ribose enhance proinsulin biosynthesis at low concentrations )0.3-0.6mM) but concentrations above 5 mM were ineffective. The effect of all three compounds was highly specific for proinsulin biosynthesis, since incorporation of [3H]leucine into other islet proteins was not significantly stimulated. The data strongly indicate that metabolic signals regulate modulation of proinsulin biosynthesis in the beta cells.

Animals

Regulation of proinsulin synthesis in isolated rat islets.

(1) A system is described for studying the short-term effects of agents on proinsulin synthesis in vitro, as measured by the incorporation of [3H]leucine into isolated proinsulin. (2) Of the agents tested, glucose has the most marked, and apparently earliest, effect on proinsulin synthesis. (3) The adenyl cyclase system participates in the regulation of proinsulin synthesis since exogenous cyclic AMP, glucagon, and caffeine are stimulatory. When cyclic AMP is added to the medium in the presence of glucose, it is the most potent agent acting on the adenyl cyclase-phosphodiesterase system. (4) The addition of NADPH to isolated rat islets inhibits proinsulin and Bulk Protein synthesis in vitro.

Animals

Secretion of insulin in a perifusion system and conversion of proinsulin to insulin by pancreatic islets from hyperglycemic rats.

The secretory pattern of insulin and the rate of conversion of proinsulin to insulin were studied in isolated pancreatic islets from normoglycemic (buffer-infused for 24 hours) and hyperglycemic (glucose-infused for 24 hours) rats. The profiles of insulin secretion obtained during one hour of perifusion were markedly different in the two groups. The rate of insulin secretion by islets from the hyperglycemic rats was initially very high but progressively declined during the late period of the perifusion. The reverse pattern was found with the islets from buffer-infused rats. For the estimation of the rate of proinsulin conversion, islets were pulse-labeled with L-[4,5-3H]-leucine for 15 minutes and "chase"-incubated for 30 and 60 minutes. Labeled rat proinsulin and rat insulins in the medium and in the islet extracts were separated by a validated SDS-urea electrophoretic acrylamide procedure following immunoprecipitation. The conversion rate was estimated from the radioactivity in the insulin band, expressed as a per cent of the radioactivity in the proinsulin + insulin bands. Islets from hyperglycemic rats converted newly synthesized proinsulin to insulin at significantly higher rates than did control islets.

Animals

[Insulin and proinsulin degradation normally and in experimental diabetes].

The authors studied insulin and proinsulin degradation with homogenates of various rat tissues under normal conditions and in alloxan diabetes. The radioimmunological method was used for insulin determination by the decline of immunoreactive insulin and proinsulin from the reaction medium. Homogenates of various normal rat tissues are distributed by their capacity to destroy insulin and proinsulin in the order of decline as follows: the liver, kidneys, muscles, and the epididymal fat. In insulin equimolar quantities proinsulin was destroyed much less than insulin under the same experimental conditions. Alloxan diabetes led to reduction of the capacity of all the tissues homogenates to destroy both insulin and proinsulin. Reduction of degradation was the most pronounced when the muscle and adipose tissue homogenates were used.

Alloxan

The amino acid sequence of human insulin-like growth factor I and its structural homology with proinsulin.

The complete amino acid sequence of human insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), a polypeptide isolated from serum, has been determined. IGF-I is a single chain polypeptide of 70 amino acid residues cross-linked by three disulfide bridges. The calculated molecular weight is 7649. IGF-I displays obvious homology to proinsulin: positions 1 to 29 are homologous to insulin B chain and positions 42 to 62 to insulin A chain. A shortened "connecting" peptide with 12 residues (positions 30 to 41) compared to 30 to 35 in proinsulins shows no homology to proinsulin C peptide. An octapeptide sequence at the COOH-terminal end is also a feature not found in proinsulins. The number of differences in amino acid positions between IGF-I and insulins suggests that duplication of the gene of the common ancestor of proinsulin and IGF occurred before the time of appearance of the vertebrates. Of the 19 residues known to be invariant in all insulins so far sequenced, only glutamine A5 and asparagine A21 are replaced in IGF-I by glutamic acid and alanine, respectively. The fact that all half-cystine and glycine residues and most nonpolar core residues of the insulin monomer are conserved is compatible with a three-dimensional structure of IGF-I similar to that of insulin.

Amino Acid Sequence

The effect of age on plasma proinsulin-like material after oral glucose.

The total plasma insulin and proinsulin-like material after oral glucose was studied in 68 lean subjects of varying ages with normal glucose tolerance tests. Although each subject had a normal test, the mean glucose levels increased with increasing age. When younger subjects (ages 15 to 44) were compared with older (45 to 74), no significant differences in total insulin responses were seen, but plasma proinsulin-like material was significantly higher in the older age subjects. All values after stimulation were significantly greater in subjects 45 to 74 years of age than in those 15 to 44 years of age (p less than 0.01). A significant correlation between the amount of proinsulin and the age of the subject was seen. These findings may reflect a decreased conversion of proinsulin to insulin in the aging pancreas or could reflect decreased clearance of proinsulin in older subjects.

Administration, Oral

Syntheses of C-peptides and human proinsulin.

Syntheses of human, dog, rat, and duck C-peptides and their analogues and preliminary results on the total synthesis of human proinsulin are described. In the syntheses of the C-peptides, chain elongation was performed exclusively by the azide-fragment condensation method in solution. The synthetic human, dog, rat, and duck C-peptides and their analogues were proved to be homogeneous by several analytic means. With these synthetic peptides, radioimmunoassay systems for dog, rat, and duck C-peptides were developed. For the total synthesis of human proinsulin, 10 protected peptide hydrazides were prepared, and the linearly protected hexaoctacontapeptide having the proposed sequence of human proinsulin was constructed by the azide-fragment condensation method in solution starting from the C-terminal undecapeptide (HP 75-86). After deblocking of the alpha-amino protection, the partially protected hexaoctacontapeptide was treated with sodium in liquid ammonia. The ensuing sulfhydryl form was converted to the S-sulfonate form, which was reduced and then air-oxidized. The oxidized material was purified by gel filtration on Sephadex G-50 (fine) followed by ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-cellulose. The cross-reactivity in the insulin radioimmunoassay of the ensuing product was 62.5 per cent of porcine proinsulin on a weight basis at B/Bo = 60 per cent. Acid hydrolysis and amino acid analysis of this product gave the theoretically expected ratios. In addition, this peptide, as well as the S-sulfonate form of the hexaoctacontapeptide, showed displacement curves superimposable on that of synthetic human C-peptide on an equimolar basis in the human C-peptide radioimmunoassay (antiserum 527). These results confirm the synthesis of human proinsulin.

Amino Acid Sequence

[Studies on human proinsulin C-peptide radioimmunoassay method--preparation of antiserum and its specificity-- (author's transl)].

The antisera using at final dilution of 1 : 10,000 have been prepared by immunizing synthetic human proinsulin connecting peptide to rabbits for human proinsulin C-peptide radioimmunoassay. The cross reactivities of human proinsulin C-peptide derivatives with the prepared antisera were reduced by leaving amino acid residues from N terminal, although this phenomenon was a little different among antisera. Those results suggested that main antigen determinant in N terminal 31-38 of human proinsulin connecting peptide. The cross reactivities of other animal proinsulin C-peptide and other peptide hormones with the prepared antissera were not recognized at 10(3) p mole/ml.

C-Peptide

In vitro conversion of proinsulin to insulin by cathepsin B and role of C-peptide.

Cathepsin B, purified from isolated islets of Langerhans, when incubated with proinsulin under in vitro conditions could convert proinsulin to insulin and C-peptide, releasing free arginine and lysine. When C-peptide, prepared from rat pancreas, was added to the incubation system consisting of proinsulin and cathepsin B, it completely inhibited the conversion of proinsulin to insulin.

Animals

Circulating proinsulin in patients with maturity onset diabetes.

The contribution of proinsulin to the total serum immunoreactive insulin (IRI) was measured in 59 patients with maturity onset diabetes (23 being treated with diet alone and 36 with oral sulfonylurea agents) and compared to that in 44 control subjects. The percentage of proinsulin was increased in 11 patients and correlated with plasma glucose, but not with IRI. There was no difference between the drug-treated group and diet-treated group, or between patients taking different sulfonylurea agents. Sequential studies in one patient showed normalization of the proportion of proinsulin following lowering of the plasma glucose level. It is probably that the increased circulating proportion of proinsulin in hyperglycemic diabetic patients is secondary to beta cell exhaustion with release of less mature granules.

Adult

Proinsulin biosynthesis in broken-cell preparations of islets of Langerhans.

1. Rabbit islets of Langerhans were disrupted by ultrasonic methods and the sonicated preparations were used to study proinsulin biosynthesis. 2. When [3h]leucine is incubated in such preparations, incorporation takes place into proinsulin, as evidenced by characterization on polyacrylamide gels, and by the conversion of this labelled material into insulin, by using trypsin. 3. The labelled proinsulin may also be purified by antiinsulin antibody bound to Sepharose. 4. With the broken-cell preparation it was shown that incorporation of leucine is accelerated by increasing the glucose content of the medium from 2mM to 16mM. However, 16mM-galactose or -sucrose did not stimulate incorporation significantly from basal values. This effect of glucose was abolished by cycloheximide. 5. The significance of these findings in relation to the mechanism of glucose stimulation of proinsulin biosynthesis is discussed.

Animals

Stimulation of proinsulin biosynthesis and insulin release by pyruvate and lactate.

Increasing concentrations of pyruvate failed to stimulate proinsulin biosynthesis and insulin release in freshly isolated islets. Glycolytic flux (3H2O from [5-3H]glucose) decreased by 80-85%, but decarboxylation of [1(-14)C]pyruvate was unaffected in islets tested immediately after alloxan exposure. This strongly suggested that in freshly isolated islets, beta-cells, in relation to other islet cells, hardly contribute to the decarboxylation of pyruvate. Non-alloxan-treated cultured islets decarboxylated 2-2.5 times as much pyruvate as did alloxan-treated islets cultured for 15-18h. Thus the contribution of beta-cells to the metabolism of pyruvate after culturing markedly increased. Concomitantly beta-cells became responsive to pyruvate. At 20mM-pyruvate, release of prelabelled proinsulin and insulin and incorporation of [3H]leucine into proinsulin reached values approximately half of those obtained with 20mM-glucose. Lactate was as effective as pyruvate in inducing responses in cultured islets. The experiments indicate that a critical degree of substrate utilization is necessary for the generation of signals for insulin release and proinsulin biosynthesis.

Alloxan