Author Interviews, Diabetes, Genetic Research, Hepatitis - Liver Disease, Weight Research / 24.05.2016
Epigenetic Factors Linked to Glucose Tolerance and Fatty Liver Development
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Prof-Dr. Annette Schürmann
Department of Experimental Diabetology
German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke
Nuthetal, Germany
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Dr. Schürmann: The aim of our study was to clarify why genetically identical mice respond very different to a high fat diet. Some of the mice react with an elevated body weight, others not. We analyzed the expression pattern
of liver at two time points, at the age of 6 weeks, (the earliest time
point to distinguish between those that respond to the diet (responder
mice) and those that did not (non-responders)), and at the age of 20
weeks. One transcript that was significantly reduced in the liver of
responder mice at both time points was Igfbp2. The reason for the
reduced expression was an elevated DNA-methylation at a position that is
conserved in the mouse and human sequence. The elevated DNA-methylation
of this specific site in human was recently described to associate with
elevated fat storage (hepatosteatosis) and NASH. However, as 6 weeks old
mice did not show differences in liver fat content between responder and
non-responder mice we conclude that the alteration of Igfbp2 expression
and DNA methylation occurs before the development of fatty liver.
Our data furthermore showed that the epigenetic inhibition of Igfbp2
expression was associated with elevated blood glucose and insulin
resistance but not with fatty liver.
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