Chronic Exposure to Palmitic Acid Down-Regulates AKT in Beta-Cells through Activation of mTOR.

High circulating lipids occurring in obese individuals and insulin-resistant patients are considered a contributing factor to type 2 diabetes. Exposure to high lipid concentration is proposed to both protect and damage beta-cells under different circumstances. Here, by feeding mice a high-fat diet (HFD) for 2 weeks to up to 14 months, the study showed that HFD initially causes the beta-cells to expand in population, whereas long-term exposure to HFD is associated with failure of beta-cells and the inability of animals to respond to glucose challenge. To prevent the failure of beta-cells and the development of type 2 diabetes, the molecular mechanisms that underlie this biphasic response of beta-cells to lipid exposure were explored. Using palmitic acid (PA) in cultured beta-cells and islets, the study demonstrated that chronic exposure to lipids leads to reduced viability and inhibition of cell cycle progression concurrent with down-regulation of a pro-growth/survival kinase AKT, independent of glucose. This AKT down-regulation by PA is correlated with the induction of mTOR/S6K activity. Inhibiting mTOR activity with rapamycin induced Raptor and restored AKT activity, allowing beta-cells to gain proliferation capacity that was lost after HFD exposure. In summary, a novel mechanism in which lipid exposure may cause the dipole effects on beta-cell growth was elucidated, where mTOR acts as a lipid sensor. These mechanisms can be novel targets for future therapeutic developments.

Inhibition of Estrogen-Related Receptor α Blocks Liver Steatosis and Steatohepatitis and Attenuates Triglyceride Biosynthesis.

The estrogen-related receptor (ERR) family of orphan nuclear receptors are transcriptional activators for genes involved in mitochondrial bioenergetics and metabolism. The goal of this study was to explore the role of ERRα in lipid metabolism and the potential effect of inhibiting ERRα on the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). In the current study, three experimental mouse models: high-fat diet, high-carbohydrate diet, and a genetic model of hepatic insulin resistance where the liver hyperinsulinemia signal is mimicked via hepatic deletion of Pten (phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10), the negative regulator of the insulin/phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase signaling pathway, were used. A recently developed small-molecule inhibitor for ERRα was used to demonstrate that inhibiting ERRα blocked NAFLD development induced by either high-carbohydrate diet or high-fat diet feeding. ERRα inhibition also diminished lipid accumulation and attenuated NASH development in the Pten null mice. Glycerolipid synthesis was discovered as an additional mechanism for ERRα-regulated NAFLD/NASH development and glycerophosphate acyltransferase 4 was identified as a novel transcriptional target of ERRα. In summary, these results establish ERRα as a major transcriptional regulator of lipid biosynthesis in addition to its characterized primary function as a regulator for mitochondrial function. This study recognizes ERRα as a potential target for NAFLD/NASH treatment and elucidates novel signaling pathways regulated by ERRα.

Hepatic macrophage mediated immune response in liver steatosis driven carcinogenesis.

Obesity confers an independent risk for carcinogenesis. Classically viewed as a genetic disease, owing to the discovery of tumor suppressors and oncogenes, genetic events alone are not sufficient to explain the progression and development of cancers. Tumor development is often associated with metabolic and immunological changes. In particular, obesity is found to significantly increase the mortality rate of liver cancer. As its role is not defined, a fundamental question is whether and how metabolic changes drive the development of cancer. In this review, we will dissect the current literature demonstrating that liver lipid dysfunction is a critical component driving the progression of cancer. We will discuss the involvement of inflammation in lipid dysfunction driven liver cancer development with a focus on the involvement of liver macrophages. We will first discuss the association of steatosis with liver cancer. This will be followed with a literature summary demonstrating the importance of inflammation and particularly macrophages in the progression of liver steatosis and highlighting the evidence that macrophages and macrophage produced inflammatory mediators are critical for liver cancer development. We will then discuss the specific inflammatory mediators and their roles in steatosis driven liver cancer development. Finally, we will summarize the molecular pattern (PAMP and DAMP) as well as lipid particle signals that are involved in the activation, infiltration and reprogramming of liver macrophages. We will also discuss some of the therapies that may interfere with lipid metabolism and also affect liver cancer development.