Insulin receptors in AH-66 ascites hepatoma cells and liver of tumor-bearing rats.

Properties of insulin receptor on plasma membranes isolated from AH-66 ascites hepatoma cells and liver of tumor-bearing rats were studied. Specific binding (total binding minus nonspecific binding) of 125-I-labeled insulin to plasma membranes from AH-66 tumor cells and liver of normal and tumor-bearing rats were 33, 31, and 16% of a fixed amount of labeled insulin (1 x 10(5) cpm) added to each membrane preparation, respectively. Using Nisonoff plot, these membranes were found to possess at least two types of insulin receptors with a high affinity-low capacity and a low affinity-high capacity, as has been shown in normal liver. Total number of binding sites (high affinity plus low affinity sites, 8.4 x 10(-12) mol/mg protein) in hepatoma cells was more than that (7.0 x 10(-12) mol/mg protein) in normal rat liver. However, kinetic constants of binding in receptors of two types on tumor cells and tumor-bearing rat liver were similar to those of membrane receptors from normal rat liver. Insulin receptors of the hepatoma cells were considered to be highly specific for insulin from the results of competition with other peptide hormones. Inhibition of insulin binding with the tumor cell membranes by concanavalin-A, a competitive inhibitor for insulin receptor sites, did not differ very greatly from that of normal liver.