Azam · Pharmaceutical research 2022 · narrative review with in silico molecular docking · n=?

Inhibition of Insulin Degrading Enzyme to Control Diabetes Mellitus and its Applications on some Other Chronic Disease: a Critical Review.

Cited 22 times in the scientific literature.

Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data

Narrative review and in silico molecular docking analysis without clinical data

PubMed 35378698 · doi:10.1007/s11095-022-03237-7 · record verified 2026-08-29

What was done

The authors reviewed the role of insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE)—a zinc-metalloprotease that degrades insulin and amyloid-beta—in type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, obesity, and cardiovascular conditions. The authors also performed computational molecular docking using tools including LIGPLOT+, Python, and Protein-Ligand Interaction Profiler to characterize IDE-ligand interactions and therapeutic inhibitors.

What was found

The abstract reports no quantitative values, docking scores, or statistical measures. It describes IDE as an allosterically regulated oligomeric enzyme mediating degradation-dependent insulin clearance in multiple organs, and summarizes reported IDE inhibitors alongside the molecular challenges of targeting the enzyme for type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.

Why it matters

Modulating IDE could theoretically preserve circulating insulin in diabetes, but because IDE also clears amyloid-beta, therapeutic inhibition presents complex trade-offs between glycemic control and neurodegenerative pathology.

Limits

The paper is a narrative review with in silico docking and presents no in vivo, animal, or human clinical trial data. The abstract provides no quantitative binding metrics, and the review methodology, literature search parameters, and number of included studies are not reported.

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