Effect of insulin on the expression of interleukin 2 receptor

Abstract

In this paper, we report our work about the effect of insulin on the expression of interleukin 2 receptor (IL-2R). Our experiments showed that insulin was not T cell growth factor, but was able to augment the expression of IL-2R during T cell activation by PHA and to delay the decline rate of IL-2R⁺ cell. As a result, the percentage of IL-2R⁺ cells significantly increased during and after activation. Furthermore, insulin was capable of enhancing the production of interleukin 1 by macrophage and interleukin 2 by T lymphocyte. Based on these results, we suggest that there are at least two related mechanisms involved in the augmentation of the expression of IL-2R on activated T cells, i.e., direct action of insulin on T cells and indirect action of insulin by enhancing the production of interleukin l.

Keywords

insulin / interleukin 2 / interleukin 2 receptor / interleukin 1

References

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