Cell Biology - Insulin Receptor

Considering the insulin receptor as a prototypical RTK how can dysfunctional insulin signaling contribute to disease?

Running head: CELL BIOLOGY 1
Cell Biology
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CELL BIOLOGY 2
Cell Biology
The Insulin Receptor
Insulin is secreted by beta cells in the pancreas and it is a very essential anabolic hormone that
helps in the development of tissues and regulation of blood glucose. It is worth noting that
insulin helps in the storage and synthesis of lipids, carbohydrates, and proteins (Boucher et al.,
2014). The action of insulin is facilitated by the insulin receptor. This is a glycoprotein that
belongs in the tyrosine kinase (RTK) family. There has been a rise in cases of type 2 diabetes in
the USA and it is therefore important to understand the signaling pathways of insulin. Insulin
signaling helps in regulating glucose, energy homeostasis, and lipids via the liver, adipose
tissues, and the skeletal muscle (Boucher et al., 2014). It is thus worth noting that dysfunctional
insulin signaling can lead to disease.
Dysfunctional insulin signaling in skeletal muscles, the liver, adipose tissues and can lead to
insulin resistance thus eventually causing T2D (Zhao & Pei, 2013). This dysfunctional signaling
may result from mutations of the molecular components that are found along the insulin
signaling pathway. Studies have revealed that defective insulin signaling decreases the
responsiveness of cells to insulin thus affecting energy homeostasis, glucose breakdown, and
lipid degradation. Dysfunctional insulin signaling affects the activation of the Akt pathway by
the insulin receptor substrate proteins (Zhao & Pei, 2013). The activated Akt pathway is
responsible for facilitating the action of insulin; implying that when signaling is defective, then
the action of insulin becomes inefficient. This defective insulin signaling leads to insulin
resistance which consequently leads to type II diabetes (Zhao & Pei, 2013).

CELL BIOLOGY 3
References
Boucher, J., Kleinridders, A., & Kahn, C. (2014). Insulin Receptor Signaling in Normal and
Insulin-Resistant States. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives In Biology, 6(1), a009191-
a009191. https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a009191
Zhao, J., & Pei, G. (2013). Arrestins in metabolic regulation. In Progress in molecular biology
and translational science (Vol. 118, pp. 413-427). Academic Press.