Article
Author: Merrill, Joseph R. ; Crawford, James M. ; Rao, Shuyun ; Wang, Xin Wei ; Crandall, Keith ; Latham, Patricia S ; Mishra, Lopa ; Ohshiro, Kazufumi ; Amdur, Richard L. ; Krainer, Adrian R. ; Xiang, Xiyan ; Hassan, Md. Imtaiyaz ; Shetty, Kirti ; Mohammad, Taj ; John, Sahara ; Amdur, Richard L ; Mishra, Bibhuti ; Bhowmick, Krishanu ; Latham, Patricia S. ; Lyons, Scott K. ; Wang, Zhanwei ; Hassan, Md Imtaiyaz ; Merrill, Joseph R ; Dasarathy, Srinivasan ; Yang, Xiaochun ; Krainer, Adrian R ; Yu, Herbert ; Huang, Hai ; Cifani, Paolo ; Crawford, James M ; Vegesna, Anil K ; Vegesna, Anil K. ; Lyons, Scott K
Obesity and fatty liver diseases-metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH)-affect over one-third of the global population and are exacerbated in individuals with reduced functional aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2), observed in approximately 560 million people. Current treatment to prevent disease progression to cancer remains inadequate, requiring innovative approaches. We observe that Aldh2-/- and Aldh2-/-Sptbn1+/- mice develop phenotypes of human metabolic syndrome (MetS) and MASH with accumulation of endogenous aldehydes such as 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE). Mechanistic studies demonstrate aberrant transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) signaling through 4-HNE modification of the SMAD3 adaptor SPTBN1 (β2-spectrin) to pro-fibrotic and pro-oncogenic phenotypes, which is restored to normal SMAD3 signaling by targeting SPTBN1 with small interfering RNA (siRNA). Significantly, therapeutic inhibition of SPTBN1 blocks MASH and fibrosis in a human model and, additionally, improves glucose handling in Aldh2-/- and Aldh2-/-Sptbn1+/- mice. This study identifies SPTBN1 as a critical regulator of the functional phenotype of toxic aldehyde-induced MASH and a potential therapeutic target.