Overexpression of TRIM32 promotes pancreatic β‐cell autophagic cell death through Akt/mTOR pathway under high glucose conditions

Abstract Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a growing worldwide epidemic and is characterized by progressive pancreatic β‐cell dysfunction and insulin resistance. Tripartite motif protein 32 (TRIM32) belongs to the TRIM family protein and has been shown to be involve in insulin resistance in skeletal muscle and the liver. However, the effect of TRIM32 on pancreatic β‐cell dysfunction and its mechanism remains unknown. In the current study, we found that serum TRIM32 concentrations of T2DM in patients were significantly elevated compared to those in healthy controls, which indicated that TRIM32 might be used as a diagnostic biomarker in T2DM patients. In INS‐1 cells, exposure to high glucose (HG) conditions caused a significant elevation in TRIM32 expression and TRIM32 was located in the nucleus. Overexpression of TRIM32 in INS‐1 cells exacerbated the effects of HG‐induced autophagy and impaired insulin secretion. In contrast, the silencing of TRIM32 produced the opposite effect. Furthermore, TRIM32 overexpression decreased the phosphorylation levels of Akt and mTOR under HG conditions. However, the activation of Akt/mTOR by MHY1485 reversed the effects of TRIM32 on HG‐treated INS‐1 cells. Collectively, the present results suggested that TRIM32 participates in the development of T2DM by modulating autophagic cell death and insulin secretion, which might occur through the Akt/mTOR pathway. Thus, TRIM32 might be a promising target in T2DM therapy.