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CASE REPORT article

Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Pediatric Endocrinology
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2024.1493280

Case Report: Functional Characterization of a Missense Variant in INSR Associated with Hypoketotic Hypoglycemia

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, United States
  • 2 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Hypoketotic hypoglycemia due to dysregulated insulin secretion is the most common cause of persistent hypoglycemia in children. However, this type of hypoglycemia can also result from defects in the insulin signaling pathway. Distinguishing between the two is important for informing treatment decisions. Here we describe the case of a 10-year-old female with fasting and postprandial hypoglycemia who was found to have a missense variant in the INSR gene, which we functionally characterized. The proband presented with fasting and postprandial hypoglycemia at age six. Diagnostic evaluation was consistent with hypoketotic hypoglycemia suspected to be due to hyperinsulinism, and she was treated with diazoxide. Whole exome sequencing identified a maternally inherited heterozygous missense variant in INSR. Phenotypic studies on the mother were consistent with postprandial hypoglycemia. Phosphorylated Akt and ERK1/2 levels were higher at baseline and in response to stimulation with insulin in 3T3-L1 cells expressing mutant INSR compared to cells expressing wild type INSR. Thus, herein we present a heterozygous missense variant in INSR (c.1151A>G, p.Asn384Ser) that results in constitutive and increased activation of the human insulin receptor, leading to both fasting and postprandial hypoglycemia.

    Keywords: insulin1, beta cells2, Glucose3, insulin receptor4, hyperinsulinism5

    Received: 08 Sep 2024; Accepted: 04 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Guzman, Mitteer, Chen, Juliana, BOODHANSINGH, Lord, Ganguly and De Leon. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Diva D. De Leon, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, United States

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