This study attempted to assess whether polymorphisms in the leptin receptor (LEPR) gene and its combined effect with patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing protein Napabucasin in vivo 3 (PNPLA3/adiponutrin) are associated with risk of NAFLD. A total of 144 biopsy-proven NAFLD and 198 controls were genotyped using the Sequenom MassARRAY platform. We observed a significant association between the LEPR rs1137100 and rs1137101 with susceptibility to NAFLD (odds ratio [OR] 1.64, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.18–2.28, P = 0.003; and OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.11–2.34, P = 0.013, respectively) and to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis

(OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.05–2.12, P = 0.026; and OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.05–2.35, P = 0.029, respectively). The LEPR rs1137100 is also associated with simple steatosis (OR 2.27, 95% CI 1.27–4.08, P = 0.006). Analysis of gene–gene interaction revealed a strong interaction between the LEPR and PNPLA3 genes (empirical P = 0.001). Forskolin The joint effect of LEPR and PNPLA3 greatly exacerbated the risk of NAFLD (OR 3.73, 95% CI 1.84–7.55, P < 0.0001). The G allele of rs1137100 is associated with lower fibrosis score (OR 0.47, 95% CI 0.28–0.78, P = 0.001). We report an association between variants of LEPR rs1137100 and rs1137101 with risk of NAFLD. This

study suggests that rs1137100, specifically the G allele, is associated with a less severe form of liver disease in patients with NAFLD. The interaction between LEPR and PNPLA3 genes showed increased risk of NAFLD Niclosamide compared to either gene alone. “
“Chaetocin, an antibiotic produced by Chaetomium species fungi, was recently found to have antimyeloma activity. Here we examined whether chaetocin has

anticancer activities against solid tumors. Chaetocin inhibited the growth of mouse and human hepatoma grafts in nude mice. Immunohistochemical analyses revealed that chaetocin inhibits hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) expression and vessel formation in the tumors. Chaetocin also showed antiangiogenic anticancer activities in HIF-1α(+/+) fibrosarcoma grafted in mice, but not in HIF-1α(−/−) fibrosarcoma. Biochemical analyses showed that chaetocin down-regulated HIF-1α and the transcripts of HIF-1 target genes including vascular endothelial growth factor in hepatoma tissues and in various hepatoma cell lines. Based on the reported literature, unsuccessful efforts were made to determine the mechanism underlying the action of chaetocin. Unexpectedly, chaetocin was found to cause the accumulation of HIF-1α premessenger RNA (pre-mRNA) but to reduce mature mRNA levels in hepatoma cells and tissues. Such an effect of chaetocin was not observed in cell lines derived from normal cells, and was cell type-dependent even among cancer cell lines. Conclusions: Our results suggest that chaetocin could be developed as an anticancer agent to target HIF-1 in some cancers including hepatoma.