Protective role of 17β-estradiol in alcohol-associated liver fibrosis is mediated by suppression of integrin signaling.

BACKGROUND

Alcohol-associated liver disease is a complex disease regulated by genetic and environmental factors such as diet and sex. The combination of high-fat diet and alcohol consumption has synergistic effects on liver disease progression. Female sex hormones are known to protect females from liver disease induced by high-fat diet. In contrast, they promote alcohol-mediated liver injury. We aimed to define the role of female sex hormones on liver disease induced by a combination of high-fat diet and alcohol.

METHODS

Wild-type and protein arginine methyltransferase (Prmt)6 knockout female mice were subjected to gonadectomy (ovariectomy, OVX) or sham surgeries and then fed western diet and alcohol in the drinking water.

RESULTS

We found that female sex hormones protected mice from western diet/alcohol-induced weight gain, liver steatosis, injury, and fibrosis. Our data suggest that these changes are, in part, mediated by estrogen-mediated induction of arginine methyltransferase PRMT6. Liver proteome changes induced by OVX strongly correlated with changes induced by Prmt6 knockout. Using Prmt6 knockout mice, we confirmed that OVX-mediated weight gain, steatosis, and injury are PRMT6 dependent, while OVX-induced liver fibrosis is PRMT6 independent. Proteomic and gene expression analyses revealed that estrogen signaling suppressed the expression of several components of the integrin pathway, thus reducing integrin-mediated proinflammatory (Tnf, Il6) and profibrotic (Tgfb1, Col1a1) gene expression independent of PRMT6 levels. Integrin signaling inhibition using Arg-Gly-Asp peptides reduced proinflammatory and profibrotic gene expression in mice, suggesting that integrin suppression by estrogen is protective against fibrosis development.

CONCLUSIONS

Taken together, estrogen signaling protects mice from liver disease induced by a combination of alcohol and high-fat diet through upregulation of Prmt6 and suppression of integrin signaling.