1. Spatial transcriptomics unravels palmitoylation and zonation-dependent gene regulation by AEG-1 in mouse liver.
- Author
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Saverino A, Qu X, Mendoza RG, Raha S, Manna D, Ermi AG, Subler MA, Windle JJ, Liu J, and Sarkar D
- Subjects
- Animals, Male, Mice, Carcinoma, Hepatocellular metabolism, Carcinoma, Hepatocellular genetics, Carcinoma, Hepatocellular pathology, Cell Adhesion Molecules metabolism, Cell Adhesion Molecules genetics, Fatty Liver metabolism, Fatty Liver genetics, Fatty Liver pathology, Gene Expression Regulation, Liver Neoplasms metabolism, Liver Neoplasms genetics, Liver Neoplasms pathology, Transcriptome, Lipoylation, Liver metabolism, Membrane Proteins metabolism, Membrane Proteins genetics, RNA-Binding Proteins metabolism, RNA-Binding Proteins genetics
- Abstract
Obesity-induced metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) leads to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Astrocyte-elevated gene-1/Metadherin (AEG-1/MTDH) plays a key role in promoting MASH and HCC. AEG-1 is palmitoylated at residue cysteine 75 (Cys75) and a knock-in mouse representing mutated Cys75 to serine (AEG-1-C75S) showed activation of MASH- and HCC-promoting gene signature when compared to wild-type littermates (AEG-1-WT). The liver consists of three zones, periportal, mid-lobular, and pericentral, and zone-specific dysregulated gene expression impairs metabolic homeostasis in the liver, contributing to MASH and HCC. Here, to elucidate how palmitoylation influences AEG-1-mediated gene regulation in regard to hepatic zonation, we performed spatial transcriptomics (ST) in the livers of AEG-1-WT and AEG-1-C75S littermates. ST identified six different clusters in livers and using zone- and cell-type-specific markers we attributed specific zones and cell types to specific clusters. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) of differentially expressed genes in each cluster unraveled activation of pro-inflammatory and MASH- and HCC-promoting pathways, mainly in periportal and pericentral hepatocytes, in AEG-1-C75S liver compared to AEG-1-WT. Interestingly, in AEG-1-C75S liver, the mid-lobular zone exhibited widespread inhibition of xenobiotic metabolism pathways and inhibition of PXR/RXR and LXR/RXR activation, versus AEG-1-WT. In conclusion, AEG-1-C75S mutant exhibited zone-specific differential gene expression, which might contribute to metabolic dysfunction and dysregulated drug metabolism leading to MASH and HCC., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2024
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