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Selected Publication:
SHR Neuro Cancer Cardio Lipid Metab Microb
Schiffrin, M; Winkler, C; Quignodon, L; Naldi, A; Trotzmuller, M; Kofeler, H; Henry, H; Parini, P; Desvergne, B; Gilardi, F.
Sex Dimorphism of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) in Pparg-Null Mice
INT J MOL SCI. 2021; 22(18): 9969
Doi: 10.3390/ijms22189969
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- Co-authors Med Uni Graz
- Köfeler Harald
- Trötzmüller Martin
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- Abstract:
- Men with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are more exposed to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and liver fibrosis than women. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of NALFD sex dimorphism are unclear. We combined gene expression, histological and lipidomic analyses to systematically compare male and female liver steatosis. We characterized hepatosteatosis in three independent mouse models of NAFLD, ob/ob and lipodystrophic fat-specific (PpargF(Delta/Delta)) and whole-body PPAR gamma-null (Pparg(Delta/Delta)) mice. We identified a clear sex dimorphism occurring only in Pparg(Delta/Delta) mice, with females showing macro- and microvesicular hepatosteatosis throughout their entire life, while males had fewer lipid droplets starting from 20 weeks. This sex dimorphism in hepatosteatosis was lost in gonadectomized Pparg(Delta/Delta) mice. Lipidomics revealed hepatic accumulation of short and highly saturated TGs in females, while TGs were enriched in long and unsaturated hydrocarbon chains in males. Strikingly, sex-biased genes were particularly perturbed in both sexes, affecting lipid metabolism, drug metabolism, inflammatory and cellular stress response pathways. Most importantly, we found that the expression of key sex-biased genes was severely affected in all the NAFLD models we tested. Thus, hepatosteatosis strongly affects hepatic sex-biased gene expression. With NAFLD increasing in prevalence, this emphasizes the urgent need to specifically address the consequences of this deregulation in humans.
- Find related publications in this database (Keywords)
- nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
- sex dimorphism
- lipidomics
- hepatic sex-biased gene expression