A systems biology approach to study non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) in women with obesity

Abraham S. Meijnikman*, Dimitra Lappa, Hilde Herrema, Omrum Aydin, Kimberly A. Krautkramer, Valentina Tremaroli, Louise E. Olofsson, Annika Lundqvist, Sjoerd Bruin, Yair Acherman, Joanne Verheij, Siv Hjorth, Victor E.A. Gerdes, Thue W. Schwartz, Albert K. Groen, Fredrik Bäckhed, Jens Nielsen, Max Nieuwdorp

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is now the most frequent global chronic liver disease. Individuals with NAFLD exhibited an increased risk of all-cause mortality driven by extrahepatic cancers and liver and cardiovascular disease. Once the disease is established, women have a higher risk of disease progression and worse outcome. It is therefore critical to deepen the current knowledge on the pathophysiology of NAFLD in women. Here, we used a systems biology approach to investigate the contribution of different organs to this disease. We analyzed transcriptomics profiles of liver and adipose tissues, fecal metagenomes, and plasma metabolomes of 55 women with and without NAFLD. We observed differences in metabolites, expression of human genes, and gut microbial features between the groups and revealed that there is substantial crosstalk between these different omics sets. Multi-omics analysis of individuals with NAFLD may provide novel strategies to study the pathophysiology of NAFLD in humans.

Original languageEnglish
Article number104828
JournaliScience
Volume25
Issue number8
Number of pages18
ISSN2589-0042
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s)

Keywords

  • Biological sciences
  • Human metabolism
  • Physiology
  • Systems biology

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