Fig. 2 |. Tissue and tumour response to insulin signalling.

While canonical insulin signalling remains intact across tissue types, activation of the insulin receptor has tissue-specific effects. In muscle, insulin stimulates fatty acid oxidation as well as glucose uptake and utilization. By contrast, in adipose tissues and liver, insulin stimulates a storage phenotype, driving fatty acid production, inhibiting lipolysis in adipose tissue and inducing glucose uptake while suppressing gluconeogenesis in the liver. Similarly, tumours can use insulin signalling to drive glucose uptake as well as inducing cell survival and proliferation.