Pro-Arg, The Potential Anti-Diabetes Peptide, Screened from Almond by In-Silico Analysis

Insulin resistance was considered to be the most important clinical phenotype of type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Almond is a widely-consumed nut and long-term intake was beneficial to alleviating insulin resistance in patients with T2DM. Hence, screening of anti-diabetic peptides from almond proteins was feasible based on the effectiveness of peptides in the treatment of T2DM. Pro-Arg (PR), a potential anti-diabetic peptide screened from almonds proteins using in-silico technology and cell experiment, upregulated the phosphorylation levels of IRS1, PI3K, AKT, and translocation of GLUT4, and showed potential to target AKT1 in molecular simulation, suggesting PR mediated the activation of IRS1/PI3K/AKT/GLUT4 signaling pathway by targeting AKT1 to alleviate insulin resistance. Consequently, PR was the potential anti-diabetes peptide from almond proteins and showed the potential application as a candidate drug for alleviating T2DM.