NAFLD is the most common liver disease worldwide, typically affecting people who consume little or no alcohol, especially older people and those with type 2 diabetes.
Around 40% of individuals over 70 have the condition. While it’s often asymptomatic, some people experience weakness, fatigue, and abdominal pain.
Understanding what triggers NAFLD has been a challenge for the medical community.
This study, however, suggests that malfunctions inside the cell’s “hard drives” – where our operating instructions are stored – could be partially responsible for NAFLD.
Changes start in the cell nucleus, where our chromosomes reside. These changes can alter the activity of certain genes, leading to fat accumulation in the liver. The researchers focused on a part of the nucleus called the lamina.
The lamina acts as a connection between the nuclear membrane and the genetic material (chromatin). Wrinkles forming in the lamina affect the activity of genes controlling fat storage.
Hyperactive fat storage genes can result in the liver becoming filled with excess fats, leading to NAFLD.
The researchers validated their findings by examining liver cells from younger patients with NAFLD, aged between 21-51.
As expected, they found wrinkled lamina in these cells, which helps to explain why NAFLD can affect people of any age and might be useful for identifying those at risk.
Implications and Future Directions
The discovery could lead to new treatments aimed at restoring the function of the nuclear lamina to control aberrant genes and reverse fatty liver disease in both young patients and older individuals with NAFLD.
However, more research will be required to confirm these findings and to explore the potential for therapeutic interventions targeting the lamina.
The study was conducted by a team led by Irina M. Bochkis and was published in the journal Genome Research.
If you care about liver health, please read studies about a diet that can treat fatty liver disease and obesity, and coffee drinkers may halve their risk of liver cancer.
For more information about liver health, please see recent studies that an anti-inflammatory diet could help prevent fatty liver disease, and results showing vitamin D could help prevent non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
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