👤 N Albiger

The glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) is an incretin hormone produced in the gastrointestinal tract in response to nutrients. GIP has a variety of effects on different systems, including the potentiation of insulin secretion from pancreatic β-cells after food intake (i.e. incretin effect), which is probably the most important. GIP effects are mediated by the GIP receptor (GIPR), a G protein-coupled receptor expressed in several tissues, including islet β-cells, adipocytes, bone cells, and brain. As well as its involvement in metabolic disorders (e.g. it contributes to the impaired postprandial insulin secretion in type 2 diabetes (T2DM), and to the pathogenesis of obesity and associated insulin resistance), an inappropriate GIP/GIPR axis activation of potential diagnostic and prognostic value has been reported in several endocrine tumors in recent years. The ectopic GIPR expression seen in patients with overt Cushing syndrome and primary bilateral macronodular adrenal hyperplasia or unilateral cortisol-producing adenoma has been associated with an inverse rhythm of cortisol secretion, with low fasting morning plasma levels that increase after eating. On the other hand, most acromegalic patients with an unusual GH response to oral glucose suppression have GIPR-positive somatotropinomas, and a milder phenotype, and are more responsive to medical treatment. Neuroendocrine tumors are characterized by a strong GIPR expression that may correlate positively or inversely with the proliferative index MIB-1, and that seems an attractive target for developing novel radioligands. The main purpose of this review is to summarize the role of the GIP/GIPR axis in endocrine neoplasia, in the experimental and the clinical settings. Show less

Glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptor ( This study was aimed at linking the GIP/GIPR pathway to GH secretion in 25 somatotropinomas-derived primary cultures and correlating molecular with clinical features in acromegalic patients. Given the impairment of the GIP/GIPR axis in acromegaly, an additional aim was to assess the effect of GH/IGF-1 stimulation on GIP expression in the enteroendocrine cell line STC-1. Nearly 80% of We demonstrate that Show less

Somatic mutations in the GNAS1 gene, encoding the α-subunit of the heterotrimeric stimulatory G protein (Gαs), occur in approximately 40% of growth hormone (GH)-secreting pituitary tumours. By altering the adenylate cyclase-cAMP-protein kinase A pathway, they unequivocally give somatotroph cells a growth advantage. Hence, the pathogenesis of somatotropinomas could be linked to anomalies in receptors coupled to the cAMP second-messenger cascade. Among them, the glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptor (GIPR) is already known to play a primary role in the impaired cAMP-dependent cortisol secretion in patients affected by food-dependent Cushing's syndrome. In the present study, 43 somatotropinomas and 12 normal pituitary glands were investigated for GIPR expression by quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, western blotting and immunohistochemistry. Tumoural specimens were also evaluated for GNAS1 mutational status. The effect of GIPR overexpression on cAMP levels and GH transcription was evaluated in an in vitro model of somatotropinomas, the GH-secreting pituitary cell line GH3. GIPR was expressed at higher levels compared to normal pituitaries in 13 GNAS1 mutation-negative somatotropinomas. GIP stimulated adenylyl cyclase and GH-promoter activity in GIPR-transfected GH3 cells, confirming a correct coupling of GIPR to Gαs. In a proportion of acromegalic patients, GIPR overexpression appeared to be associated with a paradoxical increase in GH after an oral glucose tolerance test. Whether GIPR overexpression in acromegalic patients may be associated with this paradoxical response or more generally involved in the pathogenesis of acromegaly, as suggested by the mutually exclusive high GIPR levels and GNAS1 mutations, remains an open question. Show less