Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, 21941-902 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Molecular Genetics of Complex Phenotypes Research Unit, Bambino Gesù Hospital, IRCCS, 00146 Rome, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Jul 14;20(14):3460. doi: 10.3390/ijms20143460.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a complex disease ranging from steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Galectin-3 (Gal-3), which is a β-galactoside binding protein, has been associated with liver fibrosis, but its role in NAFLD remains elusive. We investigated the expression of Gal-3 in liver resident cells and its potential association with liver damage in 40 children with biopsy-proven NAFLD. We found that several liver cells expressed Gal-3. The number of total Gal-3 positive cells decreased with the severity of disease and the cells were correlated with the presence of steatosis and the diagnosis of NASH. CD68 macrophages expressed Gal-3 but the number CD68/Gal-3 positive cells was significantly reduced in patients diagnosed with steatosis and NASH. Triple CD68/CD206/Gal-3, which represented the subpopulation of M2 macrophages, were mainly present in patients without NASH, and clearly reduced in patients with steatosis and NASH. On the contrary, the number of α-smooth muscle actin (SMA)/Gal-3 positive cells increased with the severity of fibrosis in children with NAFLD. Our data demonstrated that the number of Gal-3 positive cells was associated with tissue damage in different ways, which suggests a dual role of this protein in the pathogenesis of pediatric NAFLD, even if the role of Gal-3 deserves further studies.
非酒精性脂肪性肝病（NAFLD）是一种复杂的疾病，其范围从脂肪变性到非酒精性脂肪性肝炎（NASH）。半乳糖凝集素-3（Gal-3）是一种β-半乳糖苷结合蛋白，与肝纤维化有关，但它在 NAFLD 中的作用仍不清楚。我们研究了 Gal-3 在肝固有细胞中的表达及其与 40 例经活检证实的 NAFLD 儿童肝损伤的潜在相关性。我们发现几种肝细胞表达 Gal-3。总 Gal-3 阳性细胞的数量随着疾病的严重程度而减少，并且这些细胞与脂肪变性的存在和 NASH 的诊断相关。CD68 巨噬细胞表达 Gal-3，但在诊断为脂肪变性和 NASH 的患者中，CD68/Gal-3 阳性细胞的数量明显减少。CD68/CD206/Gal-3 的三阳性细胞，代表 M2 巨噬细胞的亚群，主要存在于无 NASH 的患者中，在脂肪变性和 NASH 的患者中明显减少。相反，α-平滑肌肌动蛋白（SMA）/Gal-3 阳性细胞的数量随着儿童 NAFLD 纤维化的严重程度而增加。我们的数据表明，Gal-3 阳性细胞的数量以不同的方式与组织损伤相关，这表明该蛋白在小儿 NAFLD 发病机制中具有双重作用，尽管 Gal-3 的作用值得进一步研究。
