Adenovirus vector-mediated macrophage erythroblast attacher (MAEA) overexpression in primary mouse hepatocytes attenuates hepatic gluconeogenesis

• Main Authors: Kahori Shimizu, Minako Okamoto, Tomoyuki Terada, Fuminori Sakurai, Hiroyuki Mizuguchi, Koji Tomita, Toru Nishinaka
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2017-07-01
• Series: Biochemistry and Biophysics Reports
• Subjects: Adenovirus vector; Diabetes mellitus; Glucose metabolism; GWAS; MAEA
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405580817300973

Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus present a different responsiveness in terms of insulin secretion to glucose and body mass index (BMI) from other populations. The genetic background that predisposes Japanese individuals to type 2 diabetes mellitus is under study. Recent genetic studies demonstrated that the locus mapped in macrophage erythroblast attacher (MAEA) increases the susceptibility to type 2 diabetes mellitus in East Asians, including Japanese individuals. MAEA encodes a protein that plays a role in erythroblast enucleation and in the normal differentiation of erythroid cells and macrophages. However, the contribution of MAEA to type 2 diabetes mellitus remains unknown. In this study, to overexpress MAEA in the mouse liver and primary mouse hepatocytes, we generated a MAEA-expressing adenovirus (Ad) vector using a novel Ad vector exhibiting significantly lower hepatotoxicity (Ad-MAEA). Blood glucose and insulin levels in Ad-MAEA-treated mice were comparable to those in control Ad-treated mice. Primary mouse hepatocytes transduced with Ad-MAEA showed lower levels of expression of gluconeogenesis genes than those transduced with the control Ad vector. Hepatocyte nuclear factor-4α (HNF-4α) mRNA expression in primary mouse hepatocytes was also suppressed by MAEA overexpression. These results suggest that MAEA overexpression attenuates hepatic gluconeogenesis, which could potentially lead to improvement of type 2 diabetes mellitus.