Epigenetic modification of liver mitochondrial DNA is associated with histological severity of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

CARLOS PIROLA; TOMAS FERNÁNDEZ GIANOTTI; ADRIANA LAURA BURGUEÑO; MANUEL REY-FUNES; LOIDL CÉSAR FABIÁN; PABLO MALLARDI; JULIO SAN MARTINO; GUSTAVO OSVALDO CASTAÑO; SILVIA SOOKOIAN

GUT - AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GASTROENTEOROLOGY AND HEPATOLOGY

B M J PUBLISHING GROUP

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2012

0017-5749

Objective & designNonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a clinical condition that refers to progressive histological changes ranging from simple steatosis (SS) to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). We evaluated the status of cytosine methylation (5mC) of liver mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in selected regions of the mtDNA genome, such as D-loop control region, and mitochondrially encoded NADH dehydrogenase 6 (MT-ND6) and cytochrome C oxidase I (MT-CO1), to contrast the hypothesis that epigenetic modifications play a role in the phenotypic switching from SS to NASH.MethodsWe studied liver biopsies obtained from patients with NAFLD in a case-control design; 45 patients and 18 near-normal liver-histology subjects.Results MT-ND6 methylation was higher in the liver of NASH than SS patients (p