Hepatic expression of Yin Yang 1 (YY1) is associated with the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) progression in patients undergoing bariatric surgery

Abstract

Abstract Background This study is to investigate the association between the hepatic expression of Yin Yang 1 (YY1) and the progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in patients undergoing bariatric surgery. Methods Obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery were included. Liver tissues were subjected to the quantitative real-time PCR, Western blot analysis, and immunohistochemical assay, to determine the expression levels of YY1. Results Totally 88 patients were included. According to the NAFLD activity score (NAS), these patients were divided into the control (n = 12), steatosis (n = 20), non-defining NASH (n = 38), and NASH (n = 18) groups. Significant differences in the serum glucose, insulin, ALT, AST, and HOMA-IR levels were observed among these different NAFLD groups. Hepatic YY1 expression had correlation with serum glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR, ALT, AST, triglycerides, HDL, and GGT. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that, compared with the control group, the expression levels of YY1 were significantly higher in the non-defining NASH and NASH groups. In addition, multivariate regression model showed that the serum ALT and YY1 levels were strongly associated with the NAFLD activity. Conclusions Several factors are associated with NAFLD progression, including the expression of YY1. Our findings contribute to understanding of the pathogenesis of NAFLD. Trial registration NCT03296605, registered on September 28, 2017.

Keywords

• Yin Yang 1(YY1)
• Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
• Bariatric surgery