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2 Publications visible to you, out of a total of 2

Abstract (Expand)

The Hedgehog (Hh) and Wnt/beta-Catenin (Wnt) cascades are morphogen pathways whose pronounced influence on adult liver metabolism has been identified in recent years. How both pathways communicate and control liver metabolic functions are largely unknown. Detecting core components of Wnt and Hh signaling and mathematical modeling showed that both pathways in healthy liver act largely complementary to each other in the pericentral (Wnt) and the periportal zone (Hh) and communicate mainly by mutual repression. The Wnt/Hh module inversely controls the spatiotemporal operation of various liver metabolic pathways, as revealed by transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome analyses. Shifting the balance to Wnt (activation) or Hh (inhibition) causes pericentralization and periportalization of liver functions, respectively. Thus, homeostasis of the Wnt/Hh module is essential for maintaining proper liver metabolism and to avoid the development of certain metabolic diseases. With caution due to minor species-specific differences, these conclusions may hold for human liver as well.

Authors: E. Kolbe, S. Aleithe, C. Rennert, L. Spormann, F. Ott, D. Meierhofer, R. Gajowski, C. Stopel, S. Hoehme, M. Kucken, L. Brusch, M. Seifert, W. von Schoenfels, C. Schafmayer, M. Brosch, U. Hofmann, G. Damm, D. Seehofer, J. Hampe, R. Gebhardt, M. Matz-Soja

Date Published: 24th Dec 2019

Publication Type: Journal

Abstract (Expand)

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease in industrialized countries and is increasing in prevalence. The pathomechanisms, however, are poorly understood. This study assessed the unexpected role of the Hedgehog pathway in adult liver lipid metabolism. Using transgenic mice with conditional hepatocyte-specific deletion of Smoothened in adult mice, we showed that hepatocellular inhibition of Hedgehog signaling leads to steatosis by altering the abundance of the transcription factors GLI1 and GLI3. This steatotic 'Gli-code' caused the modulation of a complex network of lipogenic transcription factors and enzymes, including SREBP1 and PNPLA3, as demonstrated by microarray analysis and siRNA experiments and could be confirmed in other steatotic mouse models as well as in steatotic human livers. Conversely, activation of the Hedgehog pathway reversed the "Gli-code" and mitigated hepatic steatosis. Collectively, our results reveal that dysfunctions in the Hedgehog pathway play an important role in hepatic steatosis and beyond.

Authors: Madlen Matz-Soja, Christiane Rennert, Kristin Schönefeld, Susanne Aleithe, Jan Boettger, Wolfgang Schmidt-Heck, Thomas S Weiss, Amalya Hovhannisyan, Sebastian Zellmer, Nora Klöting, Angela Schulz, Jürgen Kratzsch, Reinhardt Guthke, Rolf Gebhardt

Date Published: 17th May 2016

Publication Type: Not specified

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