GENE REFERENCE / HGNC:6091

INSR

insulin receptor

protein-coding gene19p13.2Gene information

What does this gene do?

The INSR gene provides instructions for making a protein called an insulin receptor, which is found in many types of cells. Insulin receptors are embedded in the outer membrane surrounding the cell, where they attach (bind) to the hormone insulin circulating in the bloodstream. Insulin plays many roles in the body, including regulating blood glucose levels by controlling how much sugar (in the form of glucose) is passed from the bloodstream into cells to be used as energy.

The insulin receptor is initially produced as a single long protein that must be processed by being cut (cleaved) into four parts: two alpha subunits and two beta subunits. These subunits work together as a functioning receptor. The alpha subunits stick out from the surface of the cell, while the beta subunits remain inside the cell. The alpha subunits attach (bind) to insulin, which causes the beta subunits to trigger signaling pathways within the cell that influence many cell functions.

Source: MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine. Source publication: 2023-07-19. Source review: 2014-12.

ClinGen reviews

ClinGen reviews the evidence linking a particular gene to a condition. Each rating below describes the strength of that link. It does not classify a variant in your DNA file.

Condition	Inheritance	Evidence
Donohue syndromeMONDO:0009517 · Evaluated 2026-04-08	Autosomal recessive	DefinitiveMonogenic Diabetes Gene Curation Expert Panel
insulin-resistance syndrome type AMONDO:0012520 · Evaluated 2026-06-19	Autosomal dominant	DefinitiveMonogenic Diabetes Gene Curation Expert Panel

ClinVar records

These numbers show what has been submitted to ClinVar. They cannot tell you how likely you are to have a condition.

Submitted alleles: 896
Submissions for variants in or overlapping this gene: 1,950
Submissions explicitly reporting this gene: 1,884
Alleles reported pathogenic / likely pathogenic: 83
VariationIDs with uncertain significance: 361
VariationIDs with conflicting classifications: 69

The rows count different things: alleles, submissions or VariationIDs. Their categories can overlap, so do not add them together. Pathogenic/likely pathogenic counts exclude structural variants that merely overlap a gene. A dash in the source means “not reported,” not zero.

NCBI produces the gene-summary file each week using counts recorded at the start of the month. The numbers may differ from those on the live ClinVar website. Read the field definitions ↗

View this gene in ClinVar ↗

YOUR DNA FILE

Can your DNA file tell you about INSR?

From a DNA test kit (such as 23andMe, AncestryDNA or MyHeritage). These kits check a fixed list of about 600,000 to 700,000 positions across your whole genome. ClinVar lists 83 alleles in INSR reported as pathogenic or likely pathogenic. A kit checks only some of these positions, and often none of them.

From whole genome sequencing (a VCF file). Sequencing reads most of your genome. Your file lists the places where your DNA differs from the reference genome. Some regions are hard to sequence, including parts of some genes that have near-identical copies elsewhere, and a VCF file does not record which positions were read well.

If a variant is not in your file, that does not mean you don’t have it.

What BioDecode checks

BioDecode compares every variant in your file with ClinVar, on your own computer. For each match, it shows the ClinVar classification, the review status and the condition it was reported for. Your file is not uploaded.

A ClinVar classification applies to one particular variant and the condition it was reported for. It does not tell you about other variants in INSR.

BioDecode cannot fill gaps in your test, diagnose a condition or replace clinical testing.

Buy BioDecode See a sample report →Check file compatibility →