Tissue‐specific modulation of insulin receptor mRNA levels in a patient with a phaeochromocytoma

Abstract

We have observed that the expression of the insulin-receptor gene is regulated in a tissue-specific manner in a patient with a phaeochromocytoma. Our results indicate that insulin receptor mRNA levels are decreased in adipose tissue and increased in both liver and skeletal muscle as compared with the corresponding values in the same tissues of a control patient. These findings provide the first evidence that insulin receptor mRNA levels may be modulated in vivo by high levels of catecholamines.

Insulin Receptor mRNA Levels are Modulated in a Tissue-Specific Manner in Cushing's Syndrome Patients

“…For dot blot assays, RNA samples (10 ug) were denatured and applied onto nylon membranes (Hybond-N, Amersham) using a microfiltration apparatus (Bio-Rad). RNA blots were prehybridized, hybridized with excess 32 P-labelled IR cDNA [4.1 kb human IR-specific Eco RI fragment of the pH IR/P12-1 clone), washed under highly stringent conditions and finally autoradiographed (Leal, Cabanas, Rius, Aller and Calle 1992;Leal, Aller, Torres, Picardo and Calle 1993). The autoradiographs were scanned with a laser densitometer (Molecular Dynamics).…”