Cell to Cell Communication: Diabetes and Insulin

By: Fayth Kakos, Amy Klezek, and Charlotte Pierce

What Is It?

• Diabetes is a metabolic disease in which the body’s inability to produce any or enough insulin causes elevated levels of glucose in the blood.

• Type 1 and Type 2

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Different Types

• Type 1: A chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin, usually resulting from destroyed pancreatic cells.

• Type 2: A chronic condition that affects the way that the body processes blood sugar (glucose). Cells stop responding to insulin and sugar is unable to get in.

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Terms to Know

• Insulin: A hormone produced in the pancreas by the islets of Langerhans that regulates the amount of glucose in the blood. The lack of insulin causes a form of diabetes.

• Glucagon: A peptide hormone produced by alpha cells of the pancreas in order to raise the concentration of glucose in the bloodstream.

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Communication- Signaling

• The ligand of diabetes cell communication is insulin, which is a hormone made by the pancreas that allows your body to use glucose and store it to be used later for energy. It also keeps your blood sugar from getting too high or too low.

• The receptor is a type of tyrosine kinase receptor, which has enzymatic activity.

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Communication- Signaling

• In a normal body, food is broken down into sugar, then insulin is released from the pancreas and signals other cells to take up sugar

• In a body with type I diabetes, they are unable to produce insulin to signal other cells to take up the sugar.

• In a body with type II diabetes, insulin is produced, but the receptor cells can’t respond.

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Communication- Transduction

• A signaling molecule attaches to a receptor at protein on membrane. Second messenger transmits signal to the into the cell, changing it.

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Communication-Transduction• Normal Cell: Triggers tyrosine kinase activity, which activates

enzymes that have a ripple effect down a chain of reactions resulting completion of mitogenic functions for cell growth and gene expression, and the production of glucose for cellular functions.

• Type l Diabetes: No insulin, no transduction.• Type ll Diabetes: No receptor response, no transduction.

http://www.noahhealth.org/general-recommendations-for-individuals-with-diabetes/#opt

Communication- Transduction

• Stages of Transduction

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_signal_transduction_pathway_and_regulation_of_blood_glucose#/media/File:BIOE_Article_Pic.svg

Communication-Transduction

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Communication- Response

• In normal cells (without diabetes) the cell responds to the insulin binding to the receptor protein by opening a pathway for glucose to enter the cell, thus lowering the blood’s glucose concentration because it is now in the cell.

http://canidoit.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/1.jpg

Communication- Response

• In a body with type 1 diabetes, insulin is not produced so there can be no response from the cell because the cell’s receptor will never meet with insulin to have a response, and the pathway will not open, thus causing the blood glucose concentration to say dangerously high.

• RESPONSE DOES NOT EXSIST!

Communication- Response

• In a body with type 2 diabetes, insulin is produced in insufficient amounts for the body. The cell’s receptor proteins have become insensitive to insulin. So when insulin binds to the receptor protein the pathway may not open due to the insulin tolerance, though it will sometimes to allow small amounts of glucose into the cell. The result of this is a dangerously blood glucose concentration.

• MINIMAL RESPONSE

http://www.signsdiabetes.org/signs-of-pre-type-2-diabetes/

Work Cited • Communications Breakdown: Signal Transduction. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.sbpdiscovery.org/research/yourhealth/cancer/CommunicationsBreakdownSignalTransduction/Pages/home.aspx

• Diabetes - Cell Communication. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://prezi.com/w5jbviurabt8/diabetes-cell-communication/

• Endocrine Abstracts. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.endocrine-abstracts.org/ea/0020/ea0020s2.1.htm%E2%80%8B

• The Flow On Three Lakes. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://theflowonthreelakes.blogspot.com/2011/08/primal-blueprint.html

• The Inside Story of Cell Communication. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/cells/insidestory/

• J., Pilch, L. A., D., & Biochemistry, O. (n.d.). I I @.• (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_signal_transduction_pathway_and_regulation_of_blood_glucose#/media/File:BIOE_Article_Pic.svg

• What is Insulin? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.endocrineweb.com/conditions/type-1-diabetes/what-insulin

• When Cell Communication Goes Wrong. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/cells/badcom/