E-mail this article

D efective insulin secretion is a feature of type 2 diabetes that results from inadequate compensatory increase of β cell mass and impaired glucose-dependent insulin release. β cell proliferation and secretion are thought to be regulated by signaling through receptor tyrosine kinases. In this regard, we sought to examine the potential proliferative and/or antiapoptotic role of IGFs in β cells by tissue-specific conditional mutagenesis ablating type 1 IGF receptor (IGF1R) signaling. Unexpectedly, lack of functional IGF1R did not affect β cell mass, but resulted in age-dependent impairment of glucose tolerance, associated with a decrease of glucose- and arginine-dependent insulin release. These observations reveal a requirement of IGF1R-mediated signaling for insulin secretion.