STM Article Repository

The non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug Diacerein has been shown to reduce markers of inflammation in animal models of type 2 diabetes mellitus; however, the effects of Diacerein on endoplasmic reticulum stress mediated inflammation are unknown. The aim of the current study was to investigate the potential protective role of Diacerein against palmitate-induced induction of ER stress and markers of apoptosis in pancreatic INS-1E beta cells. Three plates of INS-1E cells were treated with palmitate, palmitate and Diacerein, or maintained as control. Palmitate resulted in the induction of the protein tubulin alpha 1 and eukaryotic elongation factor Eef1 and inhibited the protein expression of mitochondrial malic enzyme and protein isoform 1 of ribonucleus protein (HNRPD). Palmitate was shown to decrease expression of eukaryotic initiation factor eIF2 (Control 100% vs Palmitate 51%; P = .05), responsible for global translation of mRNA; however there were no differences between conditions. Western blot analysis demonstrated that Diacerein did not restore key proteins in apoptotic pathway including CHOP/GADD 34 and CHOP/GADD 153. Thus, our experiments suggest that while palmitate treatment reduced global protein synthesis inducing ER stress, Diacerein treatment does not appear to play a protective role in INS1-E under conditions of ER stress induced cellular damage.