Reduced Insulinotropic Effect of Gastric Inhibitory Polypeptide in First-Degree Relatives of Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

The relative roles of obesity, insulin resistance, insulin secretory dysfunction, and excess hepatic glucose production in the development of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) are controversial. We conducted a prospective study to determine which of these factors predicted the development of the disease in a group of Pima Indians. A body-composition assessment, oral and intravenous glucose-tolerance tests, and a hyperinsulinemic--euglycemic clamp study were performed in 200 non-diabetic Pima Indians (87 women and 113 men; mean [+/- SD] age, 26 +/- 6 years). The subjects were followed yearly thereafter for an average of 5.3 years. Diabetes developed in 38 subjects during follow-up. Obesity, insulin resistance (independent of obesity), and low acute plasma insulin response to intravenous glucose (with the degree of obesity and insulin resistance taken into account) were predictors of NIDDM: The six-year cumulative incidence of NIDDM was 39 percent in persons with values below the median for both insulin action and acute insulin response, 27 percent in those with values below the median for insulin action but above that for acute insulin response, 13 percent in those with values above the median for insulin action and below that for acute insulin response, and 0 in those with values originally above the median for both characteristics. Insulin resistance is a major risk factor for the development of NIDDM: A low acute insulin response to glucose is an additional but weaker risk factor.

Integrated insulin secretion rates calculated from peripheral venous C-peptide measurements by two-compartment kinetic analysis were measured in six young normal subjects after increasing oral glucose loads of 25, 50, and 100 g and respective isoglycemic glucose infusions. The differences in B-cell secretory responses between oral and iv glucose challenges were attributed to factors other than glycemia itself (incretin effect). Both insulin and C-peptide concentrations as well as calculated integrated insulin secretion rates increased with increasing oral glucose loads. Due to the similarity in the glucose profiles after all oral loads, almost identical amounts of iv glucose (approximately 20 g) were infused in all "isoglycemic" infusion experiments, with resulting similar hormone profiles and insulin secretion rates. The percent contribution of incretin factors to total immunoreactive insulin responses after 25, 50, and 100 g glucose (85.6%, 74.9%, and 93.0%; response to oral load, 100%) was significantly higher than their contribution to integrated C-peptide responses (27.6-62.9%) or calculated integrated insulin secretion rates (19.2-61.0%). These findings indicate that the degree of incretin stimulation of insulin secretion depends on the amount of glucose ingested. A discrepancy between the estimates of the incretin effect derived from peripheral venous insulin responses, on the one hand, and C-peptide responses or calculated insulin secretion rates, on the other hand, exists. Inasmuch as peripheral insulin values reflect both insulin secretion and hepatic insulin removal, this discrepancy suggests that elimination kinetics of insulin differ between oral and iv glucose administration. This difference can be related to a significantly reduced fractional hepatic insulin extraction after oral (46.9-54.6%) compared to iv (63.4-76.5%) glucose administration when calculated by a three-compartment kinetic model. This reduction in fractional hepatic insulin extraction could be caused by gastrointestinal factors (hormones or nerves) stimulated in the course of glucose ingestion.

A complementary DNA for a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor was isolated from a human pancreatic islet cDNA library. The isolated clone encoded a protein with 90% identity to the rat receptor. In stably transfected fibroblasts, the receptor bound [125I]GLP-1 with high affinity (Kd = 0.5 nM) and was coupled to adenylate cyclase as detected by a GLP-1-dependent increase in cAMP production (EC50 = 93 pM). Two peptides from the venom of the lizard Heloderma suspectum, exendin-4 and exendin-(9-39), displayed similar ligand binding affinities to the human GLP-1 receptor. Whereas exendin-4 acted as an agonist of the receptor, inducing cAMP formation, exendin-(9-39) was an antagonist of the receptor, inhibiting GLP-1-induced cAMP production. Because GLP-1 has been proposed as a potential agent for treatment of NIDDM, our present data will contribute to the characterization of the receptor binding site and the development of new agonists of this receptor.