{"title":"Synthesis of a highly thermostable insulin by phenylalanine conjugation at B29 Lysine","authors":"Shantanu Sen, Rafat Ali, Akanksha Onkar, Shivani Verma, Quazi Taushif Ahmad, Pratibha Bhadauriya, Pradip Sinha, Nisanth N. Nair, Subramaniam Ganesh, Sandeep Verma","doi":"10.1038/s42004-024-01241-z","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Globally, millions of diabetic patients require daily life-saving insulin injections. Insulin heat-lability and fibrillation pose significant challenges, especially in parts of the world without ready access to uninterrupted refrigeration. Here, we have synthesized four human insulin analogs by conjugating ε-amine of B29 lysine of insulin with acetic acid, phenylacetic acid, alanine, and phenylalanine residues. Of these, phenylalanine-conjugated insulin, termed FHI, was the most stable under high temperature (65 °C), elevated salt stress (25 mM NaCl), and varying pH levels (ranging from highly acidic pH 1.6 to physiological pH 7.4). It resists fibrillation for a significantly longer duration with sustained biological activity in in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo and displays prolonged stability over its native counterpart. We further unravel the critical interactions, such as additional aromatic π-π interactions and hydrogen bonding in FHI, that are notably absent in native insulin. These interactions confer enhanced structural stability of FHI and offer a promising solution to the challenges associated with insulin heat sensitivity. Heat-lability and fibrillation of insulin pose significant challenges for insulin storage. Here, the authors report chemically modified analogs of insulin by functionalizing the ε-amine group of B29 Lys with phenylalanine, to improve insulin thermostability and resist fibrillation while maintaining robust in vivo activity.","PeriodicalId":10529,"journal":{"name":"Communications Chemistry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11266353/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Communications Chemistry","FirstCategoryId":"92","ListUrlMain":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42004-024-01241-z","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Globally, millions of diabetic patients require daily life-saving insulin injections. Insulin heat-lability and fibrillation pose significant challenges, especially in parts of the world without ready access to uninterrupted refrigeration. Here, we have synthesized four human insulin analogs by conjugating ε-amine of B29 lysine of insulin with acetic acid, phenylacetic acid, alanine, and phenylalanine residues. Of these, phenylalanine-conjugated insulin, termed FHI, was the most stable under high temperature (65 °C), elevated salt stress (25 mM NaCl), and varying pH levels (ranging from highly acidic pH 1.6 to physiological pH 7.4). It resists fibrillation for a significantly longer duration with sustained biological activity in in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo and displays prolonged stability over its native counterpart. We further unravel the critical interactions, such as additional aromatic π-π interactions and hydrogen bonding in FHI, that are notably absent in native insulin. These interactions confer enhanced structural stability of FHI and offer a promising solution to the challenges associated with insulin heat sensitivity. Heat-lability and fibrillation of insulin pose significant challenges for insulin storage. Here, the authors report chemically modified analogs of insulin by functionalizing the ε-amine group of B29 Lys with phenylalanine, to improve insulin thermostability and resist fibrillation while maintaining robust in vivo activity.
期刊介绍:
Communications Chemistry is an open access journal from Nature Research publishing high-quality research, reviews and commentary in all areas of the chemical sciences. Research papers published by the journal represent significant advances bringing new chemical insight to a specialized area of research. We also aim to provide a community forum for issues of importance to all chemists, regardless of sub-discipline.