Mechanism and therapeutic strategy of hepatic TM6SF2-deficient non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases via in vivo and in vitro experiments

Figure 1 Hepatic TM6SF2 expression is upregulated in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients. A: Hepatic mRNA levels of TM6SF2 in liver specimens, including healthy subjects (HS, n = 40) and patients with simple steatosis (SS, n = 20) or nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH, n = 20); B: Hepatic mRNA levels of TM6SF2 in individuals with or without nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) from four expression microarray series retracted from Gene Expression Omnibus database; C: Immunohistochemical staining with TM6SF2 was performed on individuals with or without NAFLD. Representative images of normal liver tissues vs tissues of SS were shown. Scale bars: 50 μm; D: Immunoblot analysis of TM6SF2 expression in liver specimens. HS (n = 10), SS (n = 5) and NASH (n = 5). ^aP < 0.05; ^bP < 0.01, NS: Not significant; HS: Healthy subjects; SS: Simple steatosis; NASH: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; IHC: Immunohistochemistry; H&E: Hematoxylin and eosin.