osteum and Non-alcoholic-Fatty-Liver-Disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is defined as the accumulation of excessive fat in the liver in the absence of excessive alcohol consumption or any secondary cause. Although the disease generally remains asymptomatic, chronic liver inflammation leads to fibrosis, liver cirrhosis, and even to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Fibrosis results from epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which leads to dedifferentiation of epithelial cells into cells with a mesenchymal-like phenotype. During EMT, epithelial cells with high expression of E-cadherin, influenced by growth factors, cytokines, and inflammatory processes, undergo morphological changes via enhanced expression of, e.g., vimentin, fibronectin, and N-cadherin. An inducer of EMT and, consequently, of fibrosis development is transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ), a pleiotropic cytokine associated with the progression of hepatocarcinogenesis. However, the understanding of the molecular events that direct the development of steatosis into steatohepatitis and liver fibrosis remains incomplete. Our study revealed that both prolonged exposure of hepatocarcinoma cells to fatty acids in vitro and high-fat diet in mice (20 weeks) result in inflammation. Prolonged treatment with fatty acids increased the levels of TGFβ, MMP9, and β-catenin, important EMT inducers. Moreover, the livers of mice fed a high-fat diet exhibited features of liver fibrosis with increased TGFβ and IL-1 levels. Increased expression of IL-1 correlated with a decrease in monocyte chemoattractant protein-induced protein 1 (MCPIP1), a negative regulator of the inflammatory response that regulates the stability of proinflammatory transcripts encoding IL-1. Our study showed that a high-fat diet induced EMT by increasing the levels of EMT-activating transcription factors, including Zeb1, Zeb2, and Snail and changed the protein profile to a profile characteristic of the mesenchymal phenotype.

Topics: Animals; beta Catenin; Cadherins; Cell Line, Tumor; Diet, High-Fat; Disease Models, Animal; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; Fibronectins; Gene Expression Regulation; Hepatocytes; Humans; Interleukin-1; Liver; Matrix Metalloproteinase 9; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; Oleic Acid; Ribonucleases; Signal Transduction; Transforming Growth Factor beta; Vimentin; Zinc Finger E-box Binding Homeobox 2; Zinc Finger E-box-Binding Homeobox 1

MicroRNAs are implicated as crucial mediators in metabolic diseases including obesity, diabetes, and non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases (NAFLD). Here, we show miR-27a attenuated hepatic de novo lipogenesis and alleviated obesity-initiated NAFLD through inhibiting Fasn and Scd1 in liver. Hepatic levels of miR-27a were significantly augmented in HFD-fed and ob/ob mice. Further studies demonstrated that miR-27a directly interacted with 3' untranslated region (3'-UTR) of hepatic Fasn and Scd1 mRNAs and reduced their expression levels in mice. Adenovirus-mediated overexpression of miR-27a robustly blocked sodium oleate-induced triglyceride (TG) accumulation in mouse primary hepatocytes and reduced liver TG contents in mice via repressing hepatic lipogenesis. Furthermore, ectopic expression of hepatic miR-27a impaired lipid contents of livers and attenuated NAFLD development through suppressing lipogenesis in HCD-fed and ob/ob mice. Together, our results reveal a critical role of miR-27a in lipid homeostasis of liver and pathogenesis of NAFLD.

Topics: Animals; Cells, Cultured; Diet, High-Fat; fas Receptor; Genetic Therapy; Hepatocytes; Lipid Metabolism; Lipogenesis; Liver; Male; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Obese; MicroRNAs; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; Obesity; Oleic Acid; Primary Cell Culture; Stearoyl-CoA Desaturase; Triglycerides