Dataset Information

Impaired ketogenesis and increased acetyl-CoA oxidation promote hyperglycemia in human fatty liver.

ABSTRACT: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a highly prevalent, and potentially morbid, disease that affects one-third of the U.S. population. Normal liver safely accommodates lipid excess during fasting or carbohydrate restriction by increasing their oxidation to acetyl-CoA and ketones, yet lipid excess during NAFLD leads to hyperglycemia and, in some, steatohepatitis. To examine potential mechanisms, flux through pathways of hepatic oxidative metabolism and gluconeogenesis were studied using five simultaneous stable isotope tracers in ketotic (24-hour fast) individuals with a wide range of hepatic triglyceride contents (0-52%). Ketogenesis was progressively impaired as hepatic steatosis and glycemia worsened. Conversely, the alternative pathway for acetyl-CoA metabolism, oxidation in the tricarboxylic (TCA) cycle, was upregulated in NAFLD as ketone production diminished and positively correlated with rates of gluconeogenesis and plasma glucose concentrations. Increased respiration and energy generation that occurred in liver when ?-oxidation and TCA cycle activity were coupled may explain these findings, inasmuch as oxygen consumption was higher during fatty liver and highly correlated with gluconeogenesis. These findings demonstrate that increased glucose production and hyperglycemia in NAFLD is not a consequence of acetyl-CoA production per se, but how acetyl-CoA is further metabolized in liver.

SUBMITTER: Fletcher JA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6629163 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:BACKGROUNDHepatic de novo lipogenesis (DNL) and β-oxidation are tightly coordinated, and their dysregulation is thought to contribute to the pathogenesis of nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL). Fasting normally relaxes DNL-mediated inhibition of hepatic β-oxidation, dramatically increasing ketogenesis and decreasing reliance on the TCA cycle. Thus, we tested whether aberrant oxidative metabolism in fasting NAFL subjects is related to the inability to halt fasting DNL.METHODSForty consecutive nondiabetic individuals with and without a history of NAFL were recruited for this observational study. After phenotyping, subjects fasted for 24 hours, and hepatic metabolism was interrogated using a combination of 2H2O and 13C tracers, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and high-resolution mass spectrometry.RESULTSWithin a subset of subjects, DNL was detectable after a 24-hour fast and was more prominent in those with NAFL, though it was poorly correlated with steatosis. However, fasting DNL negatively correlated with hepatic β-oxidation and ketogenesis and positively correlated with citrate synthesis. Subjects with NAFL but undetectable fasting DNL (25th percentile) were comparatively normal. However, those with the highest fasting DNL (75th percentile) were intransigent to the effects of fasting on the concentration of insulin, non-esterified fatty acid, and ketones. Additionally, they sustained glycogenolysis and were spared the loss of oxaloacetate to gluconeogenesis in favor of citrate synthesis, which correlated with DNL and diminished ketogenesis.CONCLUSIONMetabolic flux analysis in fasted subjects indicates that shared metabolic mechanisms link the dysregulations of hepatic DNL, ketogenesis, and the TCA cycle in NAFL.TRIAL REGISTRATIONData were obtained during the enrollment/non-intervention phase of Effect of Vitamin E on Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02690792.FUNDINGThis work was supported by the University of Texas Southwestern NORC Quantitative Metabolism Core (NIH P30DK127984), the NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R01DK078184, R01DK128168, R01DK087977, R01DK132254, and K01DK133630), the NIH/National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (K01AA030327), and the Robert A. Welch Foundation (I-1804).

Project description:BackgroundThe incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is increasing worldwide, but the steps in precancerous hepatocytes which lead to HCC driver mutations are not well understood. Here we provide evidence that metabolically driven histone hyperacetylation in steatotic hepatocytes can increase DNA damage to initiate carcinogenesis.MethodsGlobal epigenetic state was assessed in liver samples from high-fat diet or high-fructose diet rodent models, as well as in cultured immortalized human hepatocytes (IHH cells). The mechanisms linking steatosis, histone acetylation and DNA damage were investigated by computational metabolic modelling as well as through manipulation of IHH cells with metabolic and epigenetic inhibitors. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and next-generation sequencing (ChIP-seq) and transcriptome (RNA-seq) analyses were performed on IHH cells. Mutation locations and patterns were compared between the IHH cell model and genome sequence data from preneoplastic fatty liver samples from patients with alcohol-related liver disease and NAFLD.ResultsGenome-wide histone acetylation was increased in steatotic livers of rodents fed high-fructose or high-fat diet. In vitro, steatosis relaxed chromatin and increased DNA damage marker γH2AX, which was reversed by inhibiting acetyl-CoA production. Steatosis-associated acetylation and γH2AX were enriched at gene clusters in telomere-proximal regions which contained HCC tumour suppressors in hepatocytes and human fatty livers. Regions of metabolically driven epigenetic change also had increased levels of DNA mutation in non-cancerous tissue from NAFLD and alcohol-related liver disease patients. Finally, genome-scale network modelling indicated that redox balance could be a key contributor to this mechanism.ConclusionsAbnormal histone hyperacetylation facilitates DNA damage in steatotic hepatocytes and is a potential initiating event in hepatocellular carcinogenesis.

Dataset Information

Impaired ketogenesis and increased acetyl-CoA oxidation promote hyperglycemia in human fatty liver.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets