Osteocalcin and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Lessons From Two Population-Based Cohorts and Animal Models

Mingfeng Xia, Shunxing Rong, Xiaopeng Zhu, Hongmei Yan, Xinxia Chang, Xiaoyang Sun, Hailuan Zeng, Xiaoming Li, Linshan Zhang, Lingyan Chen, Li Wu, Hui Ma, Yu Hu, Wanyuan He, Jian Gao, Baishen Pan, Xiqi Hu, Huandong Lin, Hua Bian, Xin Gao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

Osteocalcin regulates energy metabolism in an active undercarboxylated/uncarboxylated form. However, its role on the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is still controversial. In the current study, we investigated the causal relationship of circulating osteocalcin with NAFLD in two human cohorts and studied the effect of uncarboxylated osteocalcin on liver lipid metabolism through animal models. We analyzed the correlations of serum total/uncarboxylated osteocalcin with liver steatosis/fibrosis in a liver biopsy cohort of 196 participants, and the causal relationship between serum osteocalcin and the incidence/remission of NAFLD in a prospective community cohort of 2055 subjects from Shanghai Changfeng Study. Serum total osteocalcin was positively correlated with uncarboxylated osteocalcin (r = 0.528, p <.001). Total and uncarboxylated osteocalcin quartiles were inversely associated with liver steatosis, inflammation, ballooning, and fibrosis grades in both male and female participants (all p for trend <.05). After adjustment for confounding glucose, lipid, and bone metabolism parameters, the male and female participants with lowest quartile of osteocalcin still had more severe liver steatosis, with multivariate-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of 7.25 (1.07–49.30) and 4.44 (1.01–19.41), respectively. In the prospective community cohort, after a median of 4.2-year follow-up, the female but not male participants with lowest quartile of osteocalcin at baseline had higher risk to develop NAFLD (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.90; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.14–3.16) and lower chance to achieve NAFLD remission (HR = 0.56; 95% CI 0.31–1.00). In wild-type mice fed a Western diet, osteocalcin treatment alleviated hepatic steatosis and reduced hepatic SREBP-1 and its downstream proteins expression. In mice treated with osteocalcin for a short term, hepatic SREBP-1 expression was decreased without changes of glucose level or insulin sensitivity. When SREBP-1c was stably expressed in a human SREBP-1c transgenic rat model, the reduction of lipogenesis induced by osteocalcin treatment was abolished. In conclusion, circulating osteocalcin was inversely associated with NAFLD. Osteocalcin reduces liver lipogenesis via decreasing SREBP-1c expression.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)712-728
Number of pages17
JournalJournal of Bone and Mineral Research
Volume36
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2021

Keywords

  • BONE–LIVER INTERACTION
  • HEPATIC DE NOVO LIPOGENESIS
  • NAFLD
  • OSTEOCALCIN
  • SREBP-1C

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
  • Orthopedics and Sports Medicine

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