A study led by Texas A&M AgriLife Research provides compelling evidence of the important role of hepatocyte adenosine kinase in the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, NAFLD.
The study, “Hepatocyte Adenosine Kinase Promotes Excessive Fat Deposition and Liver Inflammation,” appeared in September in the scientific journal Gastroenterology.
Hepatocytes are cells that play pivotal roles in liver function, including in metabolism, detoxification, protein synthesis and innate immunity.
An important player in the proper function of hepatocytes is an enzyme called adenosine kinase, ADK. However, the current study shows that ADK can also drive liver disease progression.
“We aimed to study whether hepatocyte ADK functions to promote excessive fat deposition and liver inflammation,” said Chaodong Wu, M.D., Ph.D., an AgriLife Research Faculty Fellow in the Texas A&M Department of Nutrition. Wu is also a Presidential Impact Fellow of Texas A&M University and the corresponding author for the study.
Wu said NAFLD is highly associated with obesity and progresses to an advanced stage when the liver develops overt inflammatory damage.
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