Gene Therapy Laboratory, Instituto de Investigaciones en Medicina Traslacional, Facultad de Ciencias Biomédicas, CONICET-Universidad Austral, Av. Pte. Perón 1500, Pilar B1629AHJ, Argentina.
Pathological Anatomy Department, Hospital Universitario Austral, Universidad Austral, Av. Pte. Perón 1500, Pilar B1629AHJ, Argentina.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Oct 2;24(19):14843. doi: 10.3390/ijms241914843.
The severity of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) ranges from simple steatosis to steatohepatitis, and it is not yet clearly understood which patients will progress to liver fibrosis or cirrhosis. SPARC (Secreted Protein Acidic and Rich in Cysteine) has been involved in NAFLD pathogenesis in mice and humans. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of SPARC in inflammasome activation, and to evaluate the relationship between the hepatic expression of inflammasome genes and the biochemical and histological characteristics of NAFLD in obese patients. In vitro studies were conducted in a macrophage cell line and primary hepatocyte cultures to assess the effect of SPARC on inflammasome. A NAFLD model was established in SPARC knockout (SPARC) and SPARC mice to explore inflammasome activation. A hepatic RNAseq database from NAFLD patients was analyzed to identify genes associated with SPARC expression. The results were validated in a prospective cohort of 59 morbidly obese patients with NAFLD undergoing bariatric surgery. Our results reveal that SPARC alone or in combination with saturated fatty acids promoted IL-1β expression in cell cultures. SPARC mice had reduced hepatic inflammasome activation during the progression of NAFLD. NAFLD patients showed increased expression of , , , and β. Gene ontology analysis revealed that genes positively correlated with SPARC are linked to inflammasome-related pathways during the progression of the disease, enabling the differentiation of patients between steatosis and steatohepatitis. In conclusion, SPARC may play a role in hepatic inflammasome activation in NAFLD.
非酒精性脂肪性肝病 (NAFLD) 的严重程度从单纯性脂肪变性到脂肪性肝炎不等,目前尚不清楚哪些患者会进展为肝纤维化或肝硬化。基质细胞衍生因子 1(SPARC)已参与到了小鼠和人类的 NAFLD 发病机制中。本研究旨在探讨 SPARC 在炎症小体激活中的作用,并评估肥胖患者 NAFLD 的炎症小体基因的肝表达与生化和组织学特征之间的关系。在巨噬细胞系和原代肝细胞培养物中进行了体外研究,以评估 SPARC 对炎症小体的影响。在 SPARC 敲除(SPARC)和 SPARC 小鼠中建立了 NAFLD 模型,以探讨炎症小体的激活。分析了 NAFLD 患者的肝 RNAseq 数据库,以鉴定与 SPARC 表达相关的基因。在接受减肥手术的 59 名肥胖合并 NAFLD 的前瞻性队列中验证了这些结果。我们的结果表明,SPARC 单独或与饱和脂肪酸一起在细胞培养物中促进了 IL-1β 的表达。SPARC 小鼠在 NAFLD 进展过程中肝炎症小体激活减少。NAFLD 患者表现出更高的表达。基因本体论分析显示,与 SPARC 呈正相关的基因与疾病进展过程中的炎症小体相关途径相关,能够区分患者的脂肪变性和脂肪性肝炎。总之,SPARC 可能在 NAFLD 的肝炎症小体激活中发挥作用。