| Summary |
This study tested a hypothesis that a population-based approach may identify genetic background-dependent and -independent genes/pathways that modulate alcohol-induced liver injury. A sub-chronic (4 weeks) intra-gastric alcohol infusion (up to 27 g/kg/day) model was used to control for alcohol intake in 15 genetically diverse inbred mouse strains. Urine, serum and liver markers of alcoholic steato-hepatitis were assessed and a wide range of liver damage was observed across the panel. Gene expression profiling was performed on liver tissue collected at the end of the study and statistical models, with strain, degree of liver injury, treatment, and their interaction terms as factors, were used to select transcripts associated with strain-dependent and -independent effects of alcohol on the liver. Translational control of hepatic protein synthesis, related to eukaryotic initiation factors (eiFs) and accessory proteins, was identified as genetic background-independent mode of alcohol-induced liver injury. Interestingly, immune response-related transcription factors signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (Stat1) and nuclear factor, interleukin 3 regulated (Nfil3/E4bp4) are likely determinants of genetic background-dependent responses to liver injury and alcohol treatment, respectively. Our data demonstrate that a multistrain approach provides critical mechanistic information for understanding genetic factors influencing alcohol toxicity and facilitate identification of novel targets of therapeutic intervention. |
