Melatonin Inhibits hIAPP Oligomerization by Preventing β-Sheet and Hydrogen Bond Formation of the Amyloidogenic Region Revealed by Replica-Exchange Molecular Dynamics Simulation

The pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes (T2D) is highly related to the abnormal self-assembly of the human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP) into amyloid aggregates. To inhibit hIAPP aggregation is considered a promising therapeutic strategy for T2D treatment. Melatonin (Mel) was reported to effectively impede the accumulation of hIAPP aggregates and dissolve preformed fibrils. However, the underlying mechanism at the atomic level remains elusive. Here, we performed replica-exchange molecular dynamics (REMD) simulations to investigate the inhibitory effect of Mel on hIAPP oligomerization by using hIAPP(20–29) octamer as templates. The conformational ensemble shows that Mel molecules can significantly prevent the β-sheet and backbone hydrogen bond formation of hIAPP(20–29) octamer and remodel hIAPP oligomers and transform them into less compact conformations with more disordered contents. The interaction analysis shows that the binding behavior of Mel is dominated by hydrogen bonding with a peptide backbone and strengthened by aromatic stacking and CH–π interactions with peptide sidechains. The strong hIAPP–Mel interaction disrupts the hIAPP(20–29) association, which is supposed to inhibit amyloid aggregation and cytotoxicity. We also performed conventional MD simulations to investigate the influence and binding affinity of Mel on the preformed hIAPP(1–37) fibrillar octamer. Mel was found to preferentially bind to the amyloidogenic region hIAPP(20–29), whereas it has a slight influence on the structural stability of the preformed fibrils. Our findings illustrate a possible pathway by which Mel alleviates diabetes symptoms from the perspective of Mel inhibiting amyloid deposits. This work reveals the inhibitory mechanism of Mel against hIAPP(20–29) oligomerization, which provides useful clues for the development of efficient anti-amyloid agents.