Austin Health

Title
Engineering of a Biologically Active Insulin Dimer.
Publication Date
2021
Author(s)
Liu, Mengjie
White, Barbara F
Praveen, Praveen
Li, Wenyi
Lin, Feng
Wu, Hongkang
Li, Rong
Delaine, Carlie
Forbes, Briony E
Wade, John D
Hossain, Mohammed Akhter
Type of document
Journal Article
OrcId
0000-0003-1944-5301
0000-0001-9068-6357
0000-0003-3584-0301
0000-0001-5735-4924
0000-0003-4360-9927
0000-0002-1352-6568
0000-0002-9961-0006
DOI
10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c01594
Abstract
The growing epidemic of diabetes means that there is a need for therapies that are more efficacious, safe, and convenient. Here, we report the efficient synthesis of a novel disulfide dimer of human insulin tethered at the N-terminus of its B-chain through placement of a cysteine residue. The resulting peptide was shown to bind to both the insulin receptor isoform B and insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor with comparable affinity to native insulin. In in vivo insulin tolerance tests, the dimer was equipotent to Actrapid insulin and possessed a sustained duration of action greater than that of Actrapid and Glargine. While the secondary structure of our dimeric insulin was similar to that of insulin, it was more resistant to proteolysis. More importantly, our analogue was produced in quantitative yield from a monomeric thiol insulin scaffold. Our results suggest that this dimer has significant potential to address the clinical needs in the treatment of diabetes.
Link
Citation
Journal of medicinal chemistry 2021; 64(23): 17448-17454
Jornal Title
Journal of medicinal chemistry

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