Dysfunction of insulin mediator protein kinase FA in lymphocytes of patients with NIDDM

Patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) had an impaired capability to activate exogenous ATP.Mg-dependent protein phosphatase in lymphocytes compared with nondiabetic subjects. More importantly, the impaired protein phosphatase activation in the lymphocytes of patients with NIDDM could be consistently and completely restored to normal by exogenous pure protein kinase FA (the activating factor of ATP.Mg-dependent protein phosphatase), indicating that the molecular mechanism for the impaired protein phosphatase activation in patients with NIDDM is due to a functional loss of kinase FA. By contrast, both NIDDM patients and nondiabetic subjects had similar levels of total cell proteins and spontaneously active protein phosphatase activity in their lymphocytes, indicating that the dysfunction of kinase FA in patients with NIDDM is very specific. Statistical analysis further revealed that the lymphocytes isolated from 21 nondiabetic subjects contained high levels of FA activity (148 +/- 22 mU/mg cell protein), whereas, the lymphocytes of 21 patients with NIDDM contained low levels of FA activity (50 +/- 22 mU/mg), indicating statistically significant differences in FA activity between diabetic patients and nondiabetic subjects. This is the first report providing initial evidence that patients with NIDDM may statistically have a common impairment in the protein phosphatase activation in their lymphocytes and that the molecular mechanism for this defect is due to a biochemical dysfunction of protein kinase FA, a biological mediator for both insulin and epidermal growth factor.