miR-18a-5p/PXR/SREBP2 Was Involved in MAFLD Associated With Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether Among Petrol Station Workers

Abstract

Background

Metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), previously defined as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), has been shown to be closely related to many environmental pollutants. Lately, we found methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), a new environmental pollutant, could increase NAFLD risk in American adults, which still needs more population epidemiological studies to verify, and its pathogenic mechanism is not yet clear.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study among petrol station workers, diagnosed their MAFLD according to internationally recognised diagnostic criteria, assessed the potential association of MTBE exposure with MAFLD risk, and explored the miR-18a-5p/PXR/SREBP2 pathway as possible pathogenic mechanisms in male Wistar rats and HepaRG cells treated with MTBE.

Results

Blood MTBE levels were found to be significantly correlated with an increased risk of MAFLD, and MAFLD risk increased by 24.3% for every 0.1 μg/L increase in blood MTBE. Consistently, we found that MTBE exposure could induce MAFLD in rats and HepaRG cells, and activate pregnane X receptor (PXR) by inhibiting miR-18a-5p to upregulate the expression of sterol regulatory element-binding protein 2 (SREBP2) and its nuclear translocation, thereby upregulating the expression of its downstream target genes.

Conclusions

Our study demonstrated that MTBE exposure might be a significant risk factor for MAFLD, and MTBE could promote liver cholesterol synthesis and lipid deposition by activating the miRNA-18a-5p/PXR/SREBP2 pathway.