Homocysteine facilitates endoplasmic reticulum stress and apoptosis of hepatocytes by suppressing ERO1α expression via cooperation between DNMT1 and G9a.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and apoptosis play a critical role in liver injury. Endoplasmic reticulum oxidoreductase 1α (ERO1α) is an oxidase that exists in the luminal side of the ER membrane, participating in protein folding and secretion and inhibiting apoptosis, but the underlying mechanism on liver injury induced by homocysteine (Hcy) remains obscure. In this study, hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) mice model was established in cbs mice by feeding a high-methionine diet for 12 weeks; and cbs mice fed with high-methionine diet exhibited more severe liver injury compared to cbs mice. Mechanistically, we found that Hcy promoted ER stress and apoptosis of hepatocytes and thereby aggravated liver injury through inhibiting ERO1α expression; accordingly, overexpression of ERO1α remarkably alleviated ER stress and apoptosis of hepatocytes induced by Hcy. Epigenetic modification analysis revealed that Hcy significantly increased levels of DNA methylation and H3 lysine 9 dimethylation (H3K9me2) on ERO1α promoter, which attributed to upregulated DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) and G9a, respectively. Further study showed that DNMT1 and G9a cooperatively regulated ERO1α expression in hepatocytes exposed to Hcy. Taken together, our work demonstrates that Hcy activates ER stress and apoptosis of hepatocytes by downregulating ERO1α expression via cooperation between DNMT1 and G9a, which provides new insight into the mechanism of Hcy-induced ER stress and apoptosis of hepatocytes in liver injury.