Antagonizing adipose tissue-derived exosome miR-103-hepatocyte phosphatase and tensin homolog pathway alleviates autophagy in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis: A trans-cellular crosstalk

Figure 7 The hypothesis of obesity-induced non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. The increased adipocyte tissue will secret more adipose tissue (AT)-derived exosomes, which include various contents, and miR-103 is our focus. The increased AT-derived exosomes miR-103 could be absorbed by hepatocytes and further regulate non-alcoholic steatohepatitis progression by affecting the autophagy process by targeting phosphatase and tensin homolog gene. AT: Adipose tissue; NASH: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis; Exo: Exosomes; PTEN: Phosphatase and tensin homolog.