Glucose Tolerance and Insulin Receptor Binding to Monocytes and Erythrocytes in Patients with Cystic Fibrosis

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Abstract
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most frequent life threatening hereditary disease in the Western World with an incidence of approximately 1:2000. Due to increasing survival rates the high frequency of abnormal glucose tolerance has become an important problem. We compared insulin concentrations during oral glucose tolerance test and insulin receptor binding to both monocytes and erythrocytes from 9 patients with CF, with results from 10 healthy controls of similar body weight. The insulin: glucose ratio was increased in the fasting state (p < 0.05) in patients with CF compared to controls, indicating an increased insulin resistance in CF‐patients. The total insulin secretion during oral glucose tolerance test as judged by the area beneath the insulin curve was similar in the two groups, but insulin secretion was significantly delayed in patients with CF. Insulin receptor binding to monocytes and the number of receptors were significantly increased (p < 0.01 and 0.02, respectively) in patients with CF whereas the dissociation constant was similar in patients with CF and controls. No difference was observed in insulin receptor binding to erythrocytes between the two groups. No correlations were found between insulin receptor binding to monocytes or erythrocytes and glucose tolerance or insulin concentrations.