Top international journals in gastroenterology for December 2018GutA study by the team of Professors Li Youming and Yu Chaohui, Department of Gastroenterology, First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, "Fatty acids promote the development of fatty liver by mediating the 3-mercaptopyruvate transferase/hydrogen sulfide pathway [Li M, Xu C, Shi J, et al. Fatty acids promote fatty liver disease via the dysregulation of 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase/hydrogen sulfide pathway. Gut, 2018, 67 (12): 2169-2180.] ". This study systematically and deeply explored the important role and mechanism of 3-mercaptopyruvate thiotransferase (MPST), one of the endogenous hydrogen sulfide-producing enzymes, in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and confirmed for the first time that MPST is a key molecule mediating the chronization process of NAFLD, revealing that free fatty acids (FFA) mediate the high expression of MPST in NAFLD by negatively regulating cysthione-γ-lyase (CSE) /hydrogen sulfide (H2S) pathway to aggravate the progression of NAFLD, which not only provides a new mechanism explanation for liver lipotoxicity, an important pathogenesis of NAFLD, but also provides a new theoretical basis for the research and development of new NAFLD drugs based on MPST as a potential target. Partial inhibition of MPST is expected to become a new treatment strategy for NAFLD.
