Insulin oxidation and oxidative modifications alter glucose uptake, cell metabolism, and inflammatory secretion profiles

Insulin participates in glucose homeostasis in the body and regulates glucose, protein, and lipid metabolism. Chronic hyperglycemia triggers oxidative stress and the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to oxidized insulin variants. Oxidative protein modifications can cause functional changes or altered immunogenicity as known from the context of autoimmune disorders. However, studies on the biological function of native and oxidized insulin on glucose homeostasis and cellular function are lacking. Native insulin showed heterogenous effects on metabolic activity, proliferation, glucose carrier transporter (GLUT) 4, and insulin receptor (INSR) expression, as well as glucose uptake in cell lines of five different human tissues. Diverse ROS compositions produced by different gas plasma approaches enabled the investigations of variously modified insulin (oxIns) with individual oxidative post-translational modification (oxPTM) patterns as identified using high-resolution mass spectrometric analysis. Specific oxIns variants promoted cellular metabolism and proliferation in several cell lines investigated, and nitrogen plasma emission lines could be linked to insulin nitration and elevated glucose uptake. In addition, insulin oxidation modified blood glucose levels in the chicken embryos (in ovo), underlining the importance of assessing protein oxidation and function in health and disease.