Journal
PLOS ONE
Volume 8, Issue 8, Pages -Publisher
PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0072324
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- British Heart Foundation [FS/08/035/25309]
- Masterswitch (EU FP7 project)
- Arthritis Research UK Career Development Grant
- MRC
- British Heart Foundation [FS/08/035/25309] Funding Source: researchfish
- Versus Arthritis [19213] Funding Source: researchfish
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Hepatic steatosis is a global epidemic that is thought to contribute to the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. MicroRNAs (miRs) are regulators that can functionally integrate a range of metabolic and inflammatory pathways in liver. We aimed to investigate the functional role of miR-155 in hepatic steatosis. Male C57BL/6 wild-type (WT) and miR-155(-/-) mice were fed either normal chow or high fat diet (HFD) for 6 months then lipid levels, metabolic and inflammatory parameters were assessed in livers and serum of the mice. Mice lacking endogenous miR-155 that were fed HFD for 6 months developed increased hepatic steatosis compared to WT controls. This was associated with increased liver weight and serum VLDL/LDL cholesterol and alanine transaminase (ALT) levels, as well as increased hepatic expression of genes involved in glucose regulation (Pck1, Cebpa), fatty acid uptake (Cd36) and lipid metabolism (Fasn, Fabp4, Lpl, Abcd2, Pla2g7). Using miRNA target prediction algorithms and the microarray transcriptomic profile of miR-155(-/-) livers, we identified and validated that Nr1h3 (LXR alpha) as a direct miR-155 target gene that is potentially responsible for the liver phenotype of miR-155(-/-) mice. Together these data indicate that miR-155 plays a pivotal role regulating lipid metabolism in liver and that its deregulation may lead to hepatic steatosis in patients with diabetes.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available