Meta-analysis reveals up-regulation of cholesterol processes in non-alcoholic and down-regulation in alcoholic fatty liver disease

Figure 6 Rate-limiting genes of cholesterol metabolism are down-regulated in alcoholic liver disease and up-regulated in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This schematic figure shows the log2-ratios of HMGCR, SQLE and CYP7A1 indicating down-regulation in ALD (green) and up-regulation in NAFLD (red). There was stronger down-regulation of CYP7A1 (log2-ratio = -0.95) than of the upstream cholesterol genes HMGCR (log2-ratio = -0.429) and SQLE (log2-ratio = -0.33) in ALD while in NAFLD, CYP7A1 (log2-ratio = 1.15) was weaker up-regulated than HMGCR (log2-ratio = 1.57) and SQLE (log2-ratio = 1.53). The size of the arrows points to a disequilibrium between cholesterol production and secretion into the bile via CYP7A1 in both diseases despite the opposite regulation in ALD and NAFLD. ALD: Alcoholic liver disease; NAFLD: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.