Commonly, alcohol abuse is considered to be the main cause of cirrhosis. In reality, however, this is not the case at all - steatosis can also lead to this condition. The exact pathomechanism of steatosis is still unclear. While it is clear that steatosis is more common in obese or diabetic patients, it also occurs in patients with... lipid disorders do not exist.

The problem of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease was looked at by medics from Barcelona. They focused on the function of a certain gene whose protein product is involved in the metabolism of fats occurring in the liver.

Low expression of the CPEB4 protein increases the risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease?

The CPEB4 protein is involved in the transformations that occur within the endoplasmic reticulum in liver cells. When these structures need to increase their activity, e.g. when hepatocytes are stressed by stress factors (such a factor for these cells may be, for example, the need to metabolise more fatty compounds), CPEB4 protein is increased under normal conditions to maintain balance within the endoplasmic reticulum.

The Barcelona specialists conducted their research on mice in which expression of the CPEB4 gene was low. It turned out that non-alcoholic fatty liver disease occurred in such rodents along with ageing processes. In addition, in the population of mice with low expression of the CPEB4 gene, which were given a high-fat diet, steatosis was more severe than among rodents with a normal diet.

The Barcelona findings provide some guidance for now. With them - if analogous relationships are discovered in humans - the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in patients could be prevented. To this end, people with low CPEB4 expression could be offered, even before the disease develops, at least a reduction in fat consumption.