The hepatitis B virus promotes the progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease through incomplete autophagy

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is still a serious public health problem. In recent years, with the increasing incidence of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) combined with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a more in-depth exploration of the pathogenesis of CHB combined with NAFLD is required. HBV can induce autophagy and use to increase replication. The removal of fat by autophagy, also known as lipophagy, is also currently considered an alternative pathway for lipid metabolism in liver cells. This degradation of autophagy prevents hepatotoxicity and steatosis. However, it is not known whether there is a correlation between HBV-related autophagy and the progression of NAFLD. We explored how HBV affects disease progression in NAFLD should be and determined whether it is associated with HBV-associated autophagy. In this study, we constructed HBV-TG mouse high-fat diet (HFD) models and controls, and the results showed that the presence of HBV promoted the occurrence of NAFLD. We also demonstrated that HBV promotes lipid droplet accumulation in hepatocytes using HBV-stable expression cell lines HepG2.2.15 and AML12-HBV. In addition, this study also found that exogenous OA supplementation reduced HBV replication. We further studied the mechanism and found that HBV-related autophagy can promote the absorption of liver cells to lipid droplets. It can reduce the decomposition of lipid droplets by inhibiting the function of autophagolysosome, and eventually lead to the accumulation of lipid droplets in hepatocytes. In a word, HBV promotes the progression of NAFLD by increasing lipid accumulation in hepatocytes through incomplete autophagy.

Automated summary

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a serious public health problem and studies on the pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) combined with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are needed. This study explored the correlation between HBV-related autophagy and the progression of NAFLD. The results showed that HBV promoted the occurrence of NAFLD and lipid droplet accumulation in hepatocytes. Furthermore, HBV-related autophagy was found to inhibit the decomposition of lipid droplets, leading to their accumulation in hepatocytes and promoting the progression of NAFLD.