Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Vol 69, 616-621, Copyright © 1989 by Endocrine Society

ARTICLES

Hyperinsulinemia due to impaired insulin clearance associated with fasting hypoglycemia and postprandial hyperglycemia: an analysis of a patient with antiinsulin receptor antibodies

H Kiyokawa, N Kono, T Hamaguchi, M Kawachi, K Tajima, I Mineo, Y Yamada, T Shimizu, M Kuwajima and S Tarui
Second Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka University Medical School, Japan.

Antiinsulin receptor antibodies were detected in the serum of a patient with insulin-resistant diabetes. Fasting hypoglycemia and postprandial hyperglycemia recurred every day. The plasma insulin level was 553 +/- 359 pmol/L [77 +/- 50 microU/mL (mean +/- SD)] in the fasting state and rose above 7500 pmol/L postprandially. The glycemic clamp at 2.8 mmol/L (50 mg/dL) without insulin infusion revealed that the half-life of plasma endogenous insulin was 173 min, indicating severely impaired plasma insulin clearance. During the clamp the glucose infusion rate was almost constant (0.9-1.2 mg/kg.min) despite an exponential decline in the plasma insulin level from 460 pmol/L (65 microU/mL) to 129 pmol/L (18 microU/mL). Intravenous insulin administration did not appreciably accelerate the basal constant decrease in the plasma glucose level during the postabsorptive period. These results indicate the coexistence of marked insulin resistance and constant ability to decrease plasma glucose level. In in vitro experiments, antireceptor immunoglobulin G from this patient increased the fructose 2,6- bisphosphate concentration in the presence of glucagon (less than 0.1 nmol/L) in primary cultured rat hepatocytes. The antireceptor immunoglobulin G stimulated autophosphorylation of rat liver insulin receptor. We conclude that antiinsulin receptor antibodies could impair plasma insulin clearance, resulting in persistent hyperinsulinemia, and that continuous receptor stimulation by the antibodies was responsible for the development of hypoglycemia.