Insulock-2E: A Computationally Designed Insulin Peptide Stabilizing HLA-DQ8 Binding And Preventing Proper TCR Activation in Type 1 Diabetes

Project Overview Insulock-2E is an independent computational biology research project focused on designing a synthetic insulin peptide that competitively binds to the HLA-DQ8 major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and disrupts autoreactive CD4⁺ T-cell receptor (TCR) activation in Type 1 diabetes. Methods The study utilizes structure-based peptide mutagenesis, AlphaFold-Multimer modeling, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics simulations to evaluate peptide–MHC stability and predicted disruption of TCR-facing interfaces. Status & Transparency This project is presented only as a preprint. All findings show computational predictions and are intended for hypothesis generation for future experimental trials rather than immediate clinical application.