Estrogen-related receptor γ controls sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c expression and alcoholic fatty liver

Author(s):  
Don-Kyu Kim ◽  
Yong-Hoon Kim ◽  
Jae-Ho Lee ◽  
Yoon Seok Jung ◽  
Jina Kim ◽  
...  
2008 ◽  
Vol 416 (2) ◽  
pp. e15-e17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Brown

HBV and HCV (hepatitis B and C viruses respectively) affect hundreds of millions of people globally, and are a major cause of chronic liver disease, including NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease). Previous work on HCV-associated fatty liver disease has implicated two transcription factors that are important in lipid metabolism, SREBP1c (sterol-regulatory-element-binding protein 1c) and the LXRα (liver X receptor α). HBV-associated fatty liver disease has been less well-studied. New work from Kim and colleagues in this issue of the Biochemical Journal has provided new insight into how HBV causes fatty liver disease. Investigating HBV's so-called X gene product (HBx), they report that this viral protein directly binds to LXRα in the host liver cells to up-regulate the lipogenic transcription factor, SREBP1c. Also discussed in this commentary is another way that viruses such as HBV and HCV could induce SREBP1c-mediated lipogenesis, via the PI3K (phosphoinositide 3-kinase)–Akt signalling pathway.


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