Project description:Gypenosides is a traditional drug for the treatment of metabolic disorders. Recent studies have confirmed its anti-nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) effects, but the underlying mechanisms are still not fully understood. The purpose of this study was to explore the protective mechanism of gypenosides against NAFLD in mice and provide new insights for the prevention and treatment of NAFLD.
Project description:The pathogenesis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with abnormalities of liver lipid metabolism, especially with the accumulation of saturated fatty acids (FA). On the contrary, a diet enriched with n-3 polyunsaturated FA (n-3-PUFA) has been reported to ameliorate the progression of NAFLD. The aim of our study was to investigate the impact of dietary n-3-PUFA enrichment on the development of NAFLD and liver lipidome. Mice were fed for 6 weeks either high-fat methionine choline-deficient diet (MCD) or standard chow (two groups fed MCD, two control groups, both with or without n-3-PUFA). Genome-wide transcriptome analysis of liver tissue was performed and revealed differences in liver mRNA transcriptomes after MCD as well as n-3-PUFA administration.
Project description:Background & Aims: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a subtype of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) that can lead to fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma, is characterized by hepatic inflammation. Despite evolving therapies aimed to ameliorate inflammation in NASH, the transcriptional changes that lead to inflammation progression in NAFLD remain poorly understood. The aim of this study is to define transcriptional changes in early, non-fibrotic NAFLD using a biopsy-proven non-fibrotic NAFLD cohort. Methods: We extracted RNA from liver tissue of 40 patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD based on NAFLD Activity Score (NAS) (23 with NAS ≤3, 17 with NAS ≥5) and 21 healthy controls and compared changes in expression of 594 genes involved in innate immune function. Results: Compared to healthy controls, NAFLD patients with NAS ≥5 had differential expression of 211 genes, while those with NAS ≤3 had differential expression of only 14 genes. Notably, osteopontin (SPP1) (3.74-fold in NAS ≤3, 8.28-fold in NAS ≥5) and CXCL10 (2.27-fold in NAS ≤3, 8.28-fold in NAS ≥5) gene expression were significantly upregulated with histologic progression of NAFLD.
Project description:The aim of this sudy is to investigate the prevalence of colorectal cancer (CRC) in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and evaluate whether NAFLD is a risk factor for CRC.
Project description:Nuclear receptors (NRs) play a crucial role in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and have been widely studied(Tran et al. 2018). However, the underlying mechanisms of NR regulation remain largely unclear. Here, we show that miR-20b plays a key role in modulating PPARα, a master regulator of nutrient metabolism and energy homeostasis in the pathogenesis of fatty liver(Wahli et al. 1995; Dongiovanni and Valenti 2013). Using network analysis and RNA-seq to determine the correlation between NRs and microRNA in NAFLD patients, we revealed that miR-20b directly targets PPARα. The expression of miR-20b was remarkably upregulated in free fatty acid (FA)-treated hepatocytes and the livers of both obesity-induced mice and NAFLD patients. Overexpression of miR-20b dramatically increased hepatic lipid accumulation and plasma triglyceride levels. Furthermore, miR-20b significantly reduced fatty acid oxidation and mitochondrial biogenesis by directly targeting PPARα. Fenofibrate, a specific agonist of PPARα, lost its ability to ameliorate hepatic steatosis in miR-20b-introduced mice. Finally, inhibition of miR-20b dramatically increased FA oxidation and uptake, resulting in improved insulin sensitivity and a decrease in NAFLD progression. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the novel miR-20b directly targets PPARα, plays a significant role in hepatic lipid metabolism, and presents an opportunity for the development of novel therapeutics for NAFLD.
Project description:Purpose: While various functions of peripheral serotonin are known, the direct role of serotonin in regulating hepatic lipid metabolism in vivo is not well understood. We studied whether serotonin directly acts on liver to regulate lipid metabolism. Methods: Methods: 12 weeks aged liver-specific Htr2a KO (Albumin-Cre+/-; Htr2aflox/flox, herein named Htr2a LKO) mice and wildtype (WT) littermates were fed a high-fat diet (HFD, 60% fat calories) for 8 weeks. Results: Hepatic lipid droplet accumulation, NAFLD activity score, and hepatic triglyceride levels were dramatically reduced in HFD-fed Htr2a LKO mice compared to WT littermates. Conclusions: Gut-derived serotonin is a direct regulator of hepatic lipid metabolism via a gut TPH1-liver HTR2A endocrine axis. And shows promise as a novel drug target to ameliorate NAFLD with minimal systemic metabolic effects.
Project description:Background & Aims: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NALFLD)-associated changes in gut microbiota are important drivers of disease progression toward fibrosis. Therefore, reversing microbiota alterations could ameliorate NAFLD progression. Oat beta-glucan, a non-digestible polysaccharides, has shown promising therapeutic effects on hyperlipidemia associated with NAFLD, but its impact on gut microbiota and most importantly NAFLD fibrosis remains unknown. Methods: We performed detailed metabolic phenotyping including body composition, glucose tolerance, and lipid metabolism as well as comprehensive characterization of the gut-liver axis in a western-style diet (WSD)-induced model of NAFLD and assessed the effect of a beta-glucan intervention on early and advanced liver disease. Gut microbiota was modulated using broad-spectrum antibiotic (Abx) treatment. Results: Oat beta-glucan supplementation did not affect WSD-induced body weight gain, glucose intolerance, and the metabolic phenotype remained largely unaffected. Interestingly, oat beta-glucan dampened NAFLD inflammation, associated with significantly reduced monocyte-derived macrophages (MoMFs) infiltration, fibroinflammatory gene expression, and strongly reduced fibrosis development. Mechanistically, this protective effect was not mediated by changes in bile acid composition or signaling, but was dependent on gut microbiota and was lost upon Abx treatment. Specifically, oat beta-glucan partially reversed unfavorable changes in gut microbiota, resulting in an expansion of protective taxa, including Ruminococcus, and Lactobacillus followed by reduced translocation of TLR ligands. Conclusions: Our findings identify oat beta-glucan as a highly efficacious food supplement that dampens inflammation and fibrosis development in diet-induced NAFLD. These results, along with its favorable dietary profile, suggest that it may be a cost-effective and well-tolerated approach to preventing NAFLD progression and should be assessed in clinical studies.
Project description:Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease represents a spectrum of pathology that ranges from benign steatosis to potentially-progressive steatohepatitis and affects more than 30% of US adults. Advanced NAFLD is associated with increased morbidity and mortality from cirrhosis, primary liver cancer, cardiovascular disease and extrahepatic cancers. Accurate identification of patients at risk for advanced NAFLD is challenging. The aims of this study were to define the liver gene expression patterns that distinguish mild from advanced NAFLD and to develop a gene expression profile associated with advanced NAFLD. We analyzed total RNA from 72 patients with NAFLD (40 with mild NAFLD, fibrosis stage 0-1 and 32 with advanced NAFLD, fibrosis stage 3-4) and developed a gene profile associated with advanced NAFLD. This dataset is part of the TransQST collection.
Project description:Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most prevalent hepatic pathology worldwide. However, the precise molecular mechanisms for NAFLD are still not sufficiently explained. Recently, a new mode of cell death (cuproptosis) is found. However, the relationship between NAFLD and cuproptosis remains unclear. We analyzed three public datasets to identify cuproptosis-related genes stably expressed in NAFLD. Then, we performed a series of bioinformatics analyses to explore the relationship between NAFLD and cuproptosis-related genes. Finally, 3 normal control mouse and 3 high-fat diet (HFD)-induced NAFLD C57BL/6J mouse models were established to carry out transcriptome analysis.