The deubiquitinating enzyme cylindromatosis mitigates nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a common clinical condition that can lead to advanced liver diseases. Lack of effective pharmacotherapies for NASH is largely attributable to an incomplete understanding of its pathogenesis. The deubiquitinase cylindromatosis (CYLD) plays key roles in inflammation and cancer. Here we identified CYLD as a suppressor of NASH in mice and in monkeys. CYLD is progressively degraded upon interaction with the E3 ligase TRIM47 in proportion to NASH severity. We observed that overexpression of Cyld in hepatocytes concomitantly inhibits lipid accumulation, insulin resistance, inflammation and fibrosis in mice with NASH induced in an experimental setting. Mechanistically, CYLD interacts directly with the kinase TAK1 and removes its K63-linked polyubiquitin chain, which blocks downstream activation of the JNK-p38 cascades. Notably, reconstitution of hepatic CYLD expression effectively reverses disease progression in mice with dietary or genetically induced NASH and in high-fat diet-fed monkeys predisposed to metabolic syndrome. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that CYLD mitigates NASH severity and identify the CYLD-TAK1 axis as a promising therapeutic target for management of the disease.

The deubiquitinating enzyme TNFAIP3 mediates inactivation of hepatic ASK1 and ameliorates nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Activation of apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) in hepatocytes is a key process in the progression of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and a promising target for treatment of the condition. However, the mechanism underlying ASK1 activation is still unclear, and thus the endogenous regulators of this kinase remain open to be exploited as potential therapeutic targets. In screening for proteins that interact with ASK1 in the context of NASH, we identified the deubiquitinase tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced protein 3 (TNFAIP3) as a key endogenous suppressor of ASK1 activation, and we found that TNFAIP3 directly interacts with and deubiquitinates ASK1 in hepatocytes. Hepatocyte-specific ablation of Tnfaip3 exacerbated nonalcoholic fatty liver disease- and NASH-related phenotypes in mice, including glucose metabolism disorders, lipid accumulation and enhanced inflammation, in an ASK1-dependent manner. In contrast, transgenic or adeno-associated virus-mediated TNFAIP3 gene delivery in the liver in both mouse and nonhuman primate models of NASH substantially blocked the onset and progression of the disease. These results implicate TNFAIP3 as a functionally important endogenous suppressor of ASK1 hyperactivation in the pathogenesis of NASH and identify it as a potential new molecular target for NASH therapy.

The novel intracellular protein CREG inhibits hepatic steatosis, obesity, and insulin resistance.

Cellular repressor of E1A-stimulated genes (CREG), a novel cellular glycoprotein, has been identified as a suppressor of various cardiovascular diseases because of its capacity to reduce hyperplasia, maintain vascular homeostasis, and promote endothelial restoration. However, the effects and mechanism of CREG in metabolic disorder and hepatic steatosis remain unknown. Here, we report that hepatocyte-specific CREG deletion dramatically exacerbates high-fat diet and leptin deficiency-induced (ob/ob) adverse effects such as obesity, hepatic steatosis, and metabolic disorders, whereas a beneficial effect is conferred by CREG overexpression. Additional experiments demonstrated that c-Jun N-terminal kinase 1 (JNK1) but not JNK2 is largely responsible for the protective effect of CREG on the aforementioned pathologies. Notably, JNK1 inhibition strongly prevents the adverse effects of CREG deletion on steatosis and related metabolic disorders. Mechanistically, CREG interacts directly with apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) and inhibits its phosphorylation, thereby blocking the downstream MKK4/7-JNK1 signaling pathway and leading to significantly alleviated obesity, insulin resistance, and hepatic steatosis. Importantly, dramatically reduced CREG expression and hyperactivated JNK1 signaling was observed in the livers of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients, suggesting that CREG might be a promising therapeutic target for NAFLD and related metabolic diseases. CONCLUSION: The results of our study provides evidence that CREG is a robust suppressor of hepatic steatosis and metabolic disorders through its direct interaction with ASK1 and the resultant inactivation of ASK1-JNK1 signaling. This study offers insights into NAFLD pathogenesis and its complicated pathologies, such as obesity and insulin resistance, and paves the way for disease treatment through targeting CREG. (Hepatology 2017;66:834-854).

Targeting CASP8 and FADD-like apoptosis regulator ameliorates nonalcoholic steatohepatitis in mice and nonhuman primates.

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a progressive disease that is often accompanied by metabolic syndrome and poses a high risk of severe liver damage. However, no effective pharmacological treatment is currently available for NASH. Here we report that CASP8 and FADD-like apoptosis regulator (CFLAR) is a key suppressor of steatohepatitis and its metabolic disorders. We provide mechanistic evidence that CFLAR directly targets the kinase MAP3K5 (also known as ASK1) and interrupts its N-terminus-mediated dimerization, thereby blocking signaling involving ASK1 and the kinase MAPK8 (also known as JNK1). Furthermore, we identified a small peptide segment in CFLAR that effectively attenuates the progression of steatohepatitis and metabolic disorders in both mice and monkeys by disrupting the N-terminus-mediated dimerization of ASK1 when the peptide is expressed from an injected adenovirus-associated virus 8-based vector. Taken together, these findings establish CFLAR as a key suppressor of steatohepatitis and indicate that the development of CFLAR-peptide-mimicking drugs and the screening of small-molecular inhibitors that specifically block ASK1 dimerization are new and feasible approaches for NASH treatment.

Long Noncoding RNA MIR4697HG Promotes Cell Growth and Metastasis in Human Ovarian Cancer.

Ovarian cancer is one of the three most common gynecological malignant tumors worldwide. The prognosis of patients suffering from this malignancy remains poor because of limited therapeutic strategies. Herein, we investigated the role of a long noncoding RNA named MIR4697 host gene (MIR4697HG) in the cell growth and metastasis of ovarian cancer. Results showed that the transcriptional level of MIR4697HG in cancerous tissues increased twofold compared with that in adjacent noncancerous tissues. MIR4697HG was differentially expressed in ovarian cancer cell lines, with the highest levels in OVCAR3 and SKOV3 cells. MIR4697HG knockdown by specific shRNA significantly inhibited cell proliferation and colony formation in both OVCAR3 and SKOC3 cells. Consistently, in a xenograft model of ovarian cancer, MIR4697HG depletion also significantly restricted tumor volumes and weights. Furthermore, MIR4697HG knockdown inhibited cell migration and invasion capacities. Invasion ability was inhibited by 58% in SKOV3 cells and 40% in OVCAR3 cells, and migration ability was inhibited by 73% in SKOV3 cells and 62% in OVCAR3 cells after MIR4697HG knockdown. MIR4697HG knockdown also caused a decrease in matrix metalloprotease-9, phosphorylated ERK, and phosphorylated AKT. These data suggested that MIR4697HG promoted ovarian cancer growth and metastasis. The aggressive role of MIR4697HG in ovarian cancer may be related to the ERK and AKT signaling pathways.