Acid-Resistant Mesoporous Metal-Organic Framework Toward Oral Insulin Delivery: Protein Encapsulation, Protection, and Release

Diabetes affects millions of people worldwide and the number of diagnoses continues to climb annually. Though several effective medications and therapeutic methods have been developed to treat type 1 (T1DM) and type 2 (T2DM) diabetes mellitus, direct insulin injection remains the only effective treatment for insulin resistant (IR) diabetes patients. Here, we immobilize insulin in a crystalline mesoporous metal-organic framework (MOF), NU-1000, and obtain a high loading of ∼40 wt % in only 30 min. The acid-stable MOF capsules are found to effectively prevent insulin from degrading in the presence of stomach acid and the digestive enzyme, pepsin. Furthermore, the encapsulated insulin can be released from NU-1000 under simulated physiological conditions.