Novel roles for insulin receptor (IR) in adipocytes and skeletal muscle cells via new and unexpected substrates

Latha Ramalingam, Eunjin Oh, Debbie C Thurmond

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

The insulin signaling pathway regulates whole-body glucose homeostasis by transducing extracellular signals from the insulin receptor (IR) to downstream intracellular targets, thus coordinating a multitude of biological functions. Dysregulation of IR or its signal transduction is associated with insulin resistance, which may culminate in type 2 diabetes. Following initial stimulation of IR, insulin signaling diverges into different pathways, activating multiple substrates that have roles in various metabolic and cellular processes. The integration of multiple pathways arising from IR activation continues to expand as new IR substrates are identified and characterized. Accordingly, our review will focus on roles for IR substrates as they pertain to three primary areas: metabolism/glucose uptake, mitogenesis/growth, and aging/longevity. While IR functions in a seemingly pleiotropic manner in many cell types, through these three main roles in fat and skeletal muscle cells, IR multi-tasks to regulate whole-body glucose homeostasis to impact healthspan and lifespan.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2815-34
Number of pages20
JournalCellular and Molecular Life Sciences
Volume70
Issue number16
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2013
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Adipocytes/metabolism
  • Animals
  • Humans
  • Insulin/metabolism
  • Muscle Cells/metabolism
  • Muscle, Skeletal/metabolism
  • Receptor, Insulin/metabolism

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