The Soybean Peptide Vglycin Preserves the Diabetic β-cells through Improvement of Proliferation and Inhibition of Apoptosis.
Replenishment of insulin-producing pancreatic β-cells would be beneficial in diabetes. The number of β-cells is maintained primarily by self-neogenesis to compensate for β-cell failure, loss or dedifferentiation. We present here a polypeptide vglycin, which was isolated and purified from germinating pea seeds. Vglycin exhibited positive effects in our diabetic models by promoting the proliferation and suppressing the apoptosis and dedifferentiation of β-cells. Vglycin promoted the restoration of β-cells in both young streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type 1 diabetic SD rats and in aged high-fat diet with (or without) STZ-induced type 2 diabetic C57BL/6 mice. We demonstrated that vglycin triggers this positive signaling by activating the insulin receptor and corresponding transcription factors. Impaired insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance in aged T2DM mice were dramatically improved after long-term vglycin treatment, consistent with the altered level of inflammatory factor IL-1β/6. In addition, energy expenditure and body weights were significantly decreased in the mouse models after vglycin therapy. These results provide insight into the protective effects of vglycin on ameliorating β-cell function in standing glucolipotoxicity. Thus, vglycin may represent a new therapeutic agent for preventing and treating diabetes by replenishing endogenous insulin-positive cells.
Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, P.R. China.|Institute of Immunology and the CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease, School of Life Sciences and Medical Center, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China.
Hua
H
Jiang
Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, P.R. China.
Yuxing
Y
Tong
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Hainan Medical College, Haikou 571199, China.
Dongjing
D
Yan
College of Health Science, Wuhan Sports University, Wuhan 430079, P.R. China.
Shaohui
S
Jia
Department of Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
Claes-Goran
CG
Ostenson
Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, P.R. China.
Zhengwang
Z
Chen
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects*; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D050417:Insulin-Secreting Cells / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D030262:Soybean Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology*
D030262:Soybean Proteins; C000596330:Vglycin, soybean