Total liver phosphatidylcholine content associates with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and glycine N-methyltransferase expression

: Männistö V, Kaminska D, Kärjä V, Tiainen M, de Mello VD, Hanhineva K, Soininen P, Ala-Korpela M, Pihlajamäki J

: 2019

: Liver International

: Liver international : official journal of the International Association for the Study of the Liver

: Liver Int

: 39

: 10

: 1895

: 1905

: 11

: 1478-3223

: 1478-3231

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/liv.14174

Alterations in liver phosphatidylcholine (PC) metabolism have been implicated in the pathogenesis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Although genetic variation in the phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PEMT) enzyme synthesizing PC has been associated with disease, the functional mechanism linking PC metabolism to the pathogenesis of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) remains unclear.\n , 53 men and 116 women] with histological assessment of NAFLD; 106 of these had a distinct liver phenotype. All subjects were genotyped for PEMT rs7946 and liver mRNA expression of PEMT and glycine N-methyltransferase (GNMT) was analysed.\n = 0.265, P = 0.001).\nDecreased liver PC content in individuals with the NASH is independent of PEMT V175M genotype and could be partly linked to decreased GNMT expression.\nBACKGROUND & AIMS\nMETHODS\nRESULTS\nCONCLUSIONS