Distinct states of proinsulin misfolding in MIDY

• Published in: Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS 2021-08, Vol.78 (16), p.6017-6031
• Main Authors: Haataja, Leena, Arunagiri, Anoop, Hassan, Anis, Regan, Kaitlin, Tsai, Billy, Dhayalan, Balamurugan, Weiss, Michael A., Liu, Ming, Arvan, Peter
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Beta cells; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cell Biology; Cells, Cultured; Chemical bonds; Cysteine - genetics; Cysteine - metabolism; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - genetics; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - metabolism; Disulfides - metabolism; Endocrinology; Endoplasmic reticulum; Endoplasmic Reticulum - genetics; Endoplasmic Reticulum - metabolism; Folding; Humans; INS gene; Insulin; Insulin - genetics; Insulin - metabolism; Insulin-Secreting Cells - metabolism; Life Sciences; Metabolism; Missense mutation; Mutagenesis; Mutants; Mutation; Mutation, Missense - genetics; Original; Original Article; Pancreas; Peptides; Perturbation; Plasmids; Proinsulin - genetics; Proinsulin - metabolism; Protein Folding; Quality control
• ISSN: 1420-682X; 1420-9071
• DOI: 10.1007/s00018-021-03871-1

A precondition for efficient proinsulin export from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is that proinsulin meets ER quality control folding requirements, including formation of the Cys(B19)–Cys(A20) “interchain” disulfide bond, facilitating formation of the Cys(B7)–Cys(A7) bridge. The third proinsulin disulfide, Cys(A6)–Cys(A11), is not required for anterograde trafficking, i.e., a “lose-A6/A11” mutant [Cys(A6), Cys(A11) both converted to Ser] is well secreted. Nevertheless, an unpaired Cys(A11) can participate in disulfide mispairings, causing ER retention of proinsulin. Among the many missense mutations causing the syndrome of Mutant INS gene-induced Diabetes of Youth (MIDY), all seem to exhibit perturbed proinsulin disulfide bond formation. Here, we have examined a series of seven MIDY mutants [including G(B8)V, Y(B26)C, L(A16)P, H(B5)D, V(B18)A, R(Cpep + 2)C, E(A4)K], six of which are essentially completely blocked in export from the ER in pancreatic β-cells. Three of these mutants, however, must disrupt the Cys(A6)–Cys(A11) pairing to expose a critical unpaired cysteine thiol perturbation of proinsulin folding and ER export, because when introduced into the proinsulin lose-A6/A11 background, these mutants exhibit native-like disulfide bonding and improved trafficking. This maneuver also ameliorates dominant-negative blockade of export of co-expressed wild-type proinsulin. A growing molecular understanding of proinsulin misfolding may permit allele-specific pharmacological targeting for some MIDY mutants.