Insulin receptor expression in burkitt lymphoma cell lines

Abstract

The specific binding of insulin to 7 different Burkitt lymphoma cell lines containing chromosomal translocations t(8; 14), t(8;2) and t(8;22) was markedly decreased when compared to binding to lymphoblastoid cells of normal karyotype derived from Burkitt lymphoma patients or the human IM‐9 lymphoblastoid line. The number of insulin‐binding sites on intact Burkitt cells was decreased by >90% compared to lymphoblastoid cells, with no change in affinity. This decrease in binding was paralleled by reduced amounts of insulin receptor α (Mr 130,000) and β (Mr 95,000) subunits detected by cell‐surface‐labelling and insulin receptor mRNA transcripts, indicating that transcription of receptor mRNA is..