Abstract

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a disorder that extends from simple hepatic steatosis to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which is effectively alleviated by lifestyle intervention. Nevertheless, DNA methylation mechanism underling the effect of environmental factors on NAFLD and NASH is still obscure. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of exercise and diet intervention in NAFLD and NASH via DNA methylation of GAB2. Methylation of genomic DNA in human NAFLD was quantified using Infinium Methylation EPIC BeadChip assay after exercise (Ex), low carbohydrate diet (LCD) and exercise plus low carbohydrate diet (ELCD) intervention. The output Idat files were processed using ChAMP package. False discovery rate on genome-wide analysis of DNA methylation (q < 0.05), and cytosine-guanine dinucleotides (CpGs) which are located in promoters were used for subsequent analysis (|Δβ|≥ 0.1). K-means clustering was used to cluster differentially methylated genes according to 3D genome information from Human embryonic stem cell. To quantify DNA methylation and mRNA expression of GRB2 associated binding protein 2 (GAB2) in NASH mice after Ex, low fat diet (LFD) and exercise plus low fat diet (ELFD), MassARRAY EpiTYPER and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction were used. Both LCD and ELCD intervention on human NAFLD can induce same DNA methylation alterations at critical genes in blood, e.g., GAB2, which was also validated in liver and adipose of NASH mice after LFD and ELFD intervention. Moreover, methylation of CpG units (i.e., CpG_10.11.12) inversely correlated with mRNA expression GAB2 in adipose tissue of NASH mice after ELFD intervention.