Villar Beatriz, Bertran Laia, Aguilar Carmen, Binetti Jessica, Martínez Salomé, Sabench Fàtima, Real Monica, Riesco David, París Marta, Del Castillo Daniel, Richart Cristóbal, Auguet Teresa
Servei Medicina Interna, Hospital Universitari Joan XXIII, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 4, 43007 Tarragona, Spain.
Grup d'Estudi de Malalties Metabòliques associades a Insulino Resistència (GEMMAIR)-AGAUR, Departament de Medicina i Cirurgia, Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 4, 43007 Tarragona, Spain.
Metabolites. 2021 Jun 10;11(6):373. doi: 10.3390/metabo11060373.
Recent studies suggest a link between pro-neurotensin (pro-NT) and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but the published data are conflicting. Thus, we aimed to analyze pro-NT levels in women with morbid obesity (MO) and NAFLD to investigate if this molecule is involved in NAFLD and liver lipid metabolism. Plasma levels of pro-NT were determined in 56 subjects with MO and 18 with normal weight (NW). All patients with MO were subclassified according to their liver histology into the normal liver (NL, = 20) and NAFLD ( = 36) groups. The NAFLD group had 17 subjects with simple steatosis (SS) and 19 with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). We used a chemiluminescence sandwich immunoassay to quantify pro-NT in plasma and RT-qPCR to evaluate the hepatic mRNA levels of several lipid metabolism-related genes. We reported that pro-NT levels were significantly higher in MO with NAFLD than in MO without NAFLD. Additionally, pro-NT levels were higher in NASH patients than in NL. The hepatic expression of lipid metabolism-related genes was found to be altered in NAFLD, as previously reported. Additionally, although pro-NT levels correlated with LDL, there was no association with the main lipid metabolism-related genes. These findings suggest that pro-NT could be related to NAFLD progression.
近期研究表明，前神经降压素（pro-NT）与非酒精性脂肪性肝病（NAFLD）之间存在联系，但已发表的数据相互矛盾。因此，我们旨在分析病态肥胖（MO）合并NAFLD女性的pro-NT水平，以研究该分子是否参与NAFLD及肝脏脂质代谢。测定了56例MO患者和18例正常体重（NW）者的血浆pro-NT水平。所有MO患者根据肝脏组织学分为正常肝脏（NL，n = 20）和NAFLD（n = 36）组。NAFLD组有17例单纯性脂肪肝（SS）患者和19例非酒精性脂肪性肝炎（NASH）患者。我们采用化学发光夹心免疫分析法对血浆中的pro-NT进行定量，并采用逆转录定量聚合酶链反应（RT-qPCR）评估几种脂质代谢相关基因的肝脏mRNA水平。我们报告，合并NAFLD的MO患者的pro-NT水平显著高于未合并NAFLD的MO患者。此外，NASH患者的pro-NT水平高于NL患者。如先前报道，NAFLD患者肝脏脂质代谢相关基因的表达发生改变，但pro-NT水平与低密度脂蛋白（LDL）相关，与主要脂质代谢相关基因无关联。这些发现提示pro-NT可能与NAFLD的进展有关。
