Background & AimNonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease in both adult and children. Currently there are no reliable methods to determine disease severity, monitor disease progression, or efficacy of therapy, other than an invasive liver biopsy.DesignCholine Deficient L-Amino Acid (CDAA) and high fat diets were used as physiologically relevant mouse models of NAFLD. Circulating extracellular vesicles were isolated, fully characterized by proteomics and molecular analyses and compared to control groups. Liver-related microRNAs were isolated from purified extracellular vesicles and liver specimens.ResultsWe observed statistically significant differences in the level of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in liver and blood between two control groups and NAFLD animals. Time-course studies showed that EV levels increase early during disease development and reflect changes in liver histolopathology. EV levels correlated with hepatocyte cell death (r2 = 0.64, p<0.05), fibrosis (r2 = 0.66, p<0.05) and pathological angiogenesis (r2 = 0.71, p<0.05). Extensive characterization of blood EVs identified both microparticles (MPs) and exosomes (EXO) present in blood of NAFLD animals. Proteomic analysis of blood EVs detected various differentially expressed proteins in NAFLD versus control animals. Moreover, unsupervised hierarchical clustering identified a signature that allowed for discrimination between NAFLD and controls. Finally, the liver appears to be an important source of circulating EVs in NAFLD animals as evidenced by the enrichment in blood with miR-122 and 192 - two microRNAs previously described in chronic liver diseases, coupled with a corresponding decrease in expression of these microRNAs in the liver.ConclusionsThese findings suggest a potential for using specific circulating EVs as sensitive and specific biomarkers for the noninvasive diagnosis and monitoring of NAFLD.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and hypoxia are considered as crucial events favouring invasion and metastasis of many cancer cells. In this study, different human neoplastic cell lines of epithelial origin were exposed to hypoxic conditions in order to investigate whether hypoxia per se may trigger EMT programme as well as to mechanistically elucidate signal transduction mechanisms involved. The following human cancer cell lines were used: HepG2 (from human hepatoblastoma), PANC-1 (from pancreatic carcinoma), HT-29 (from colon carcinoma) and MCF-7 (from breast carcinoma). Cancer cells were exposed to carefully controlled hypoxic conditions and investigated for EMT changes and signal transduction by using morphological, cell and molecular biology techniques. All cancer cells responded to hypoxia within 72 h by classic EMT changes (fibroblastoid phenotype, SNAIL and beta-catenin nuclear translocation and changes in E-cadherin) and by increased migration and invasiveness. This was involving very early inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3beta (GSK-3beta), early SNAIL translocation as well as later and long-lasting activation of Wnt/beta-catenin-signalling machinery. Experimental manipulation, including silencing of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1alpha and the specific inhibition of mitochondrial generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), revealed that early EMT-related events induced by hypoxia (GSK-3beta inhibition and SNAIL translocation) were dependent on transient intracellular increased generation of ROS whereas late migration and invasiveness were sustained by HIF-1alpha- and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-dependent mechanisms. These findings indicate that in cancer cells, early redox mechanisms can switch on hypoxia-dependent EMT programme whereas increased invasiveness is sustained by late and HIF-1alpha-dependent release of VEGF.

Angiogenesis is a key pathological feature of experimental and human steatohepatitis, a common chronic liver disease that is associated with obesity. We demonstrated that hepatocytes generated a type of membrane-bound vesicle, microparticles, in response to conditions that mimicked the lipid accumulation that occurs in the liver in some forms of steatohepatitis and that these microparticles promoted angiogenesis. When applied to an endothelial cell line, medium conditioned by murine hepatocytes or a human hepatocyte cell line exposed to saturated free fatty acids induced migration and tube formation, two processes required for angiogenesis. Medium from hepatocytes in which caspase 3 was inhibited or medium in which the microparticles were removed by ultracentrifugation lacked proangiogenic activity. Isolated hepatocyte-derived microparticles induced migration and tube formation of an endothelial cell line in vitro and angiogenesis in mice, processes that depended on internalization of microparticles. Microparticle internalization required the interaction of the ectoenzyme Vanin-1 (VNN1), an abundant surface protein on the microparticles, with lipid raft domains of endothelial cells. Large quantities of hepatocyte-derived microparticles were detected in the blood of mice with diet-induced steatohepatitis, and microparticle quantity correlated with disease severity. Genetic ablation of caspase 3 or RNA interference directed against VNN1 protected mice from steatohepatitis-induced pathological angiogenesis in the liver and resulted in a loss of the proangiogenic effects of microparticles. Our data identify hepatocyte-derived microparticles as critical signals that contribute to angiogenesis and liver damage in steatohepatitis and suggest a therapeutic target for this condition.

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Background & AimsHepatic stellate cells (HSCs) play a key role in liver fibrosis in various chronic liver disorders including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The development of liver fibrosis requires a phenotypic switch from quiescent to activated HSCs. The trigger for HSC activation in NAFLD remain poorly understood. We investigated the role and molecular mechanism of extracellular vesicles (EVs) released by hepatocytes during lipotoxicity in modulation of HSC phenotype.MethodsEVs were isolated from fat-laden hepatocytes by differential centrifugation and incubated with HSCs. EV internalization and HSC activation, migration, and proliferation were assessed. Loss- and gain-of-function studies were performed to explore the potential role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPAR-γ)-targeting microRNAs (miRNAs) carried by EVs into HSC.ResultsHepatocyte-derived EVs released during lipotoxicity are efficiently internalized by HSCs resulting in their activation, as shown by marked up-regulation of profibrogenic genes (collagen-I, α-smooth muscle actin, and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-2), proliferation, chemotaxis, and wound-healing responses. These changes were associated with miRNAs shuttled by EVs and suppression of PPAR-γ expression in HSCs. The hepatocyte-derived EV miRNA content included various miRNAs that are known inhibitors of PPAR-γ expression, with miR-128-3p being the most efficiently transferred. Furthermore, loss- and gain-of-function studies identified miR-128-3p as a central modulator of the effects of EVs on PPAR-γ inhibition and HSC activation.ConclusionsOur findings demonstrate a link between fat-laden hepatocyte-derived EVs and liver fibrosis and have potential implications for the development of novel antifibrotic targets for NAFLD and other fibrotic diseases.

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Extracellular vesicles (EVs) released during cell stress, or demise, can contain a barcode of the cell origin including specific microRNAs (miRNAs). Here we tested the hypothesis that during early alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH) development, hepatocytes (HCs) release EVs with a miRNA signature that can be measured in circulation. A time course experiment showed that after two weeks of intragastric infusion, a time-point that results in isolated steatosis, there was no increase of blood EVs. After four weeks of infusion mice developed features of early ASH accompanied by a marked increase in the level of EVs in blood (p<0.05), as well as and in culture media of isolated HCs (p<0.001) and hepatic macrophages (p<0.001) with HCs being the predominant source of EVs. The transcriptome analysis of HC-EVs from ASH mice detected differentially expressed miRNAs, including nine significantly up-regulated and four significantly down-regulated miRNAs. Target prediction and pathway analyses of the up-regulated miRNAs identified 121 potential target genes involved in inflammatory and cancer pathways such as NF-κB, EGF, Wnt, and Bcl2. Three miRNAs, let7f, miR-29a, and miR-340, were increased in blood EVs from ASH mice (p<0.05), but not in blood EVs from three other models of chronic liver injury including bile duct ligation, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, and obese mice, as well as EVs released from hepatocytes exposed to ethanol. The blood EV level (p<0.01) and three miRNAs (p<0.05) were significantly increased in patients with ambulatory mild ALD as compared to non-alcoholics. Conclusions Our results reveal that damaged hepatocytes from ASH mice are a key EV source with a specific miRNA cargo, which are specific for ASH-related liver injury. These findings uncover EVs as a potentially novel diagnostic for ASH.

Macrophage infiltration of adipose tissue during weight gain is a central event leading to the metabolic complications of obesity. However, what are the mechanisms attracting professional phagocytes to obese adipose tissue remains poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that adipocyte-derived microparticles (MPs) are critical “find-me” signals for recruitment of monocytes and macrophages. Supernatants from stressed adipocytes stimulated the attraction of monocyte cells and primary macrophages. The activation of caspase 3 was required for release of these signals. Adipocytes exposed to saturated fatty acids showed marked release of MPs into the supernatant while common genetic mouse models of obesity demonstrate high levels of circulating adipocyte-derived MPs. The release of MPs was highly regulated and dependent on caspase 3 and Rho-associated kinase. Further analysis identified these MPs as a central chemoattractant in vitro and in vivo. In addition, intravenously transplanting circulating MPs from the ob/ob mice lead to activation of monocytes in circulation and adipose tissue of the wild type mice. These data identify adipocyte-derived MPs as novel “find me” signals that contributes to macrophage infiltration associated with obesity.