Hydrogen Sulfide Plays an Important Role by Regulating Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress in Diabetes-Related Diseases

Abstract

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) plays important roles in protein synthesis, protein folding and modification, lipid biosynthesis, calcium storage, and detoxification. ER homeostasis is destroyed by physiological and pharmacological stressors, resulting in the accumulation of misfolded proteins, which causes ER stress. More and more studies have shown that ER stress contributes to the pathogenesis of many diseases, such as diabetes, inflammation, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and autoimmune diseases. As a toxic gas, H2S has, in recent years, been considered the third most important gas signal molecule after NO and CO. H2S has been found to have many important physiological functions and to play an important role in many pathological and physiological processes. Recent evidence shows that H2S improves the body’s defenses to many diseases, including diabetes, by regulating ER stress, but its mechanism has not yet been fully understood. We therefore reviewed recent studies of the role of H2S in improving diabetes-related diseases by regulating ER stress and carefully analyzed its mechanism in order to provide a theoretical reference for future research.