RESUMO
Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is rapidly surpassing viral hepatitis as the primary cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, understanding of NASH-progressed HCC remains poor, which might impede HCC diagnosis and therapy. In this study, we aim to identify shared transcriptional changes between NASH and HCC, of which we focused on E3 ligase TRIM45. We found TRIM45 exacerbates HCC cells proliferation and metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Further transcriptome analysis revealed TRIM45 predominantly affects fatty acid metabolism and oleic acid restored impaired proliferation and metastasis of TRIM45-deficient HCC cells. IP-tandem mass spectrum and FABP5 depriving experiment indicated that TRIM45 enhance fatty acid synthesis depending on FABP5 presence. Interestingly, we found TRIM45 directly added K33-type and K63-type poly-ubiquitin chains to FABP5 NLS domain, which ultimately promoted FABP5 nuclear translocation. Nuclear FABP5 interacted with PPARγ to facilitate downstream lipid synthesis gene expression. We observed TRIM45 accelerated NASH-to-HCC transition and exacerbated both NASH and NASH-HCC with the enhanced fatty acid production in vivo. Moreover, high concentration of fatty acid increased TRIM45 expression. The established mechanism was substantiated by gene expression correlation in TCGA-LIHC. Collectively, our research revealed a common lipid reprograming process in NASH and HCC and identified the cyclical amplification of the TRIM45-FABP5-PPARγ-fatty acid axis. This signaling pathway offers potential therapeutic targets for therapeutic intervention in NASH and NASH-progressed HCC.
Assuntos
Carcinoma Hepatocelular , Proteínas de Ligação a Ácido Graxo , Ácidos Graxos , Neoplasias Hepáticas , Hepatopatia Gordurosa não Alcoólica , Ubiquitinação , Carcinoma Hepatocelular/patologia , Carcinoma Hepatocelular/genética , Carcinoma Hepatocelular/metabolismo , Humanos , Neoplasias Hepáticas/patologia , Neoplasias Hepáticas/genética , Neoplasias Hepáticas/metabolismo , Proteínas de Ligação a Ácido Graxo/genética , Proteínas de Ligação a Ácido Graxo/metabolismo , Hepatopatia Gordurosa não Alcoólica/metabolismo , Hepatopatia Gordurosa não Alcoólica/patologia , Hepatopatia Gordurosa não Alcoólica/genética , Animais , Ácidos Graxos/metabolismo , Camundongos , Proliferação de Células/genética , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Regulação Neoplásica da Expressão Gênica , Ubiquitina-Proteína Ligases/genética , Ubiquitina-Proteína Ligases/metabolismo , Progressão da DoençaRESUMO
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Hyperlipidemia has been extensively recognized as a high-risk factor for NASH; however, clinical susceptibility to NASH is highly heterogeneous. The key controller(s) of NASH susceptibility in patients with hyperlipidemia has not yet been elucidated. Here, we aimed to reveal the key regulators of NASH in patients with hyperlipidemia and to explore its role and underlying mechanisms. APPROACH AND RESULTS: To identify the predominant suppressors of NASH in the setting of hyperlipidemia, we collected liver biopsy samples from patients with hyperlipidemia, with or without NASH, and performed RNA-sequencing analysis. Notably, decreased Lineage specific Interacting Motif domain only 7 (LMO7) expression robustly correlated with the occurrence and severity of NASH. Although overexpression of LMO7 effectively blocked hepatic lipid accumulation and inflammation, LMO7 deficiency in hepatocytes greatly exacerbated diet-induced NASH progression. Mechanistically, lysine 48 (K48)-linked ubiquitin-mediated proteasomal degradation of tripartite motif-containing 47 (TRIM47) and subsequent inactivation of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)/p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade are required for the protective function of LMO7 in NASH. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide proof-of-concept evidence supporting LMO7 as a robust suppressor of NASH in the context of hyperlipidemia, indicating that targeting the LMO7-TRIM47 axis is a promising therapeutic strategy for NASH.