Hepatic MIR20B promotes nonalcoholic fatty liver disease by suppressing PPARA
- Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea
- Ulsan University Hospital, Republic of Korea
- Asan Medical Center, Republic of Korea
Abstract
Background:
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is characterized by excessive lipid accumulation and imbalances in lipid metabolism in the liver. Although nuclear receptors (NRs) play a crucial role in hepatic lipid metabolism, the underlying mechanisms of NR regulation in NAFLD remain largely unclear.
Methods:
Using network analysis and RNA-seq to determine the correlation between NRs and microRNA in human NAFLD patients, we revealed that MIR20B specifically targets PPARA. MIR20B mimic and anti-MIR20B were administered to human HepG2 and Huh-7 cells and mouse primary hepatocytes as well as high fat diet (HFD)- or methionine-deficient diet (MCD)-fed mice to verify the specific function of MIR20B in NAFLD. We tested the inhibition of the therapeutic effect of a PPARα agonist, fenofibrate, by Mir20b and the synergic effect of combination of fenofibrate with anti-Mir20b in NAFLD mouse model.
Results:
We revealed that MIR20B specifically targets PPARA through miRNA regulatory network analysis of nuclear receptor genes in NAFLD. The expression of MIR20B was upregulated in free fatty acid (FA)-treated hepatocytes and the livers of both obesity-induced mice and NAFLD patients. Overexpression of MIR20B significantly increased hepatic lipid accumulation and triglyceride levels. Furthermore, MIR20B significantly reduced FA oxidation and mitochondrial biogenesis by targeting PPARA. In Mir20b-introduced mice, the effect of fenofibrate to ameliorate hepatic steatosis was significantly suppressed. Finally, inhibition of Mir20b significantly increased FA oxidation and uptake, resulting in improved insulin sensitivity and a decrease in NAFLD progression. Moreover, combination of fenofibrate and anti-Mir20b exhibited the synergic effect on improvement of NAFLD in MCD-fed mice.
Conclusions:
Taken together, our results demonstrate that the novel MIR20B targets PPARA, plays a significant role in hepatic lipid metabolism, and present an opportunity for the development of novel therapeutics for NAFLD.
Funding:
This research was funded by Korea Mouse Phenotyping Project (2016M3A9D5A01952411), the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (2020R1F1A1061267, 2018R1A5A1024340, NRF-2021R1I1A2041463, 2020R1I1A1A01074940), and the Future-leading Project Research Fund (1.210034.01) of UNIST.
Data availability
Sequencing data have been deposited in GEO under accession codes GSE168484. Other data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript. Source data files have been provided.
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Hepatic miR20b promotes nonalcholic fatty liver diseases by targeting PPARαNCBI Gene Expression Omnibus, GSE168484.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Research Foundation of Korea (2020R1F1A1061267)
- Jang Hyun Choi
National Research Foundation of Korea (2018R1A5A1024340)
- Jang Hyun Choi
National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2021R1I1A2041463)
- Jang Hyun Choi
National Research Foundation of Korea (2020R1I1A1A01074940)
- Hyun-Jun Jang
Korea Mouse Phenotyping Project (2016M3A9D5A01952411)
- Jang Hyun Choi
Future-leading Project Research Fund (1.210034.01)
- Jang Hyun Choi
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Reviewing Editor
- Matthew A Quinn, Wake Forest School of Medicine, United States
Ethics
Animal experimentation: All animal experiments were performed according to procedures approved by the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (UNISTIACUC-19-04).
Human subjects: Human liver tissue samples of 21 patients were acquired from the BioResource Center (BRC) of Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea. The process of 21 human tissue samples was officially approved by the Institutional Review Board of Asan Medical Center (IRB approval number: 2018-1512).
Version history
- Received: May 18, 2021
- Preprint posted: June 7, 2021 (view preprint)
- Accepted: December 24, 2021
- Accepted Manuscript published: December 29, 2021 (version 1)
- Version of Record published: January 13, 2022 (version 2)
Copyright
This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
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Hepatic MIR20B promotes nonalcoholic fatty liver disease by suppressing PPARA
eLife 10:e70472.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.70472
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Mutations in the human PURA gene cause the neurodevelopmental PURA syndrome. In contrast to several other monogenetic disorders, almost all reported mutations in this nucleic acid-binding protein result in the full disease penetrance. In this study, we observed that patient mutations across PURA impair its previously reported co-localization with processing bodies. These mutations either destroyed the folding integrity, RNA binding, or dimerization of PURA. We also solved the crystal structures of the N- and C-terminal PUR domains of human PURA and combined them with molecular dynamics simulations and nuclear magnetic resonance measurements. The observed unusually high dynamics and structural promiscuity of PURA indicated that this protein is particularly susceptible to mutations impairing its structural integrity. It offers an explanation why even conservative mutations across PURA result in the full penetrance of symptoms in patients with PURA syndrome.
