Hepatic gene expression in hepatocyte-specific Pten deficient mice showing steatohepatitis without ethanol challenge.

Hepatocyte-specific Pten deficient (Pten KO) mice possess almost the same hepatic lesions histologically as human NASH and are thought to represent some limited NASH patients. We analyzed a comprehensive gene expression of hepatocytes derived from 10- to 35-week-old Pten KO mice using the DNA microarray technology to find out the candidate genes related to development and aggravation of human NASH. Spp1, Vnn1, Itga6, Abcd2, Auh, Acox1, Pdk4, Cpt1a, Lcn2, Igfbp2, Gstm6, Socs3, Tgm2, and Aldh9a1 were regarded as the candidate genes related to inflammation. The candidate genes of fibrosis were Spp1, Ctgf, and Cyp2c39 and moreover Cidec and Spp1 were regarded as the candidate genes of carcinogenesis. To confirm that these genes contribute to the etiology of some human NASH, further investigations using human liver samples are needed.