title: Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) receptor/binding protein in human diabetic epiretinal membranes.
abstract: Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) is thought to play a role in the development of proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Proliferative diabetic retinopathy is characterised by the formation of fibrovascular epiretinal membranes, and IGF-I may initiate and/or potentiate this epiretinal proliferation. To evaluate further the part played by IGF-I in the development of epiretinal tissue, we investigated the presence of IGF-I receptor/binding protein in proliferating diabetic fibrovascular epiretinal membranes. Five fibrovascular epiretinal membranes were obtained by vitrectomy from five patients with proliferating diabetic retinopathy. The presence of IGF-I receptors was investigated by autoradiography using 125I-labeled IGF-I on frozen sections. To characterise binding specificity, some sections were preincubated with either insulin or unlabeled IGF-I. Sections of post-mortem liver were used as controls. Strong labeling of cells with 125I-labeled IGF-I was observed in all epiretinal membranes and in liver cells. Almost no autoradiographic labeling was observed in sections that had been blocked with non-radioactive IGF-I, and very little labeling was found following blockage with insulin. Our preliminary study suggests the presence of IGF-I receptor/binding protein in human diabetic epiretinal membranes. These results support the hypothesis that IGF-I may be involved in the formation of proliferative diabetic membranes.
mesh_terms: D001345:Autoradiography; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D006801:Humans; D018969:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D008099:Liver / Q000737:chemistry; D017526:Receptor, IGF Type 1 / Q000032:analysis*; D012160:Retina / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology; D015861:Retinal Neovascularization / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D018969:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Proteins; D017526:Receptor, IGF Type 1