Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is a widely used index of liver integrity or hepatocellular damage in clinics as well as a key enzyme in intermediatary metabolism. In this study, we have cloned the complementary DNAs of murine homologues of human alanine aminotransferase 1 and 2 (ALT1 and ALT2). The deduced peptides of murine ALT1 (mALT1) and ALT2 (mALT2) share 87% and 93% identity, respectively, with their human counterparts at the amino acid level. Murine ALT genes localize to separate chromosomes, with mALT1 gene (gpt1) on chromosome 15 and mALT2 gene (gpt2) on chromosome 8. The murine gpt1 and gpt2 differ in messenger RNA expression: gpt1 is mainly expressed in liver, bowel, and white adipose tissue and gpt2 is highly expressed in muscle, liver, and white adipose tissue. Expression of recombinant mALT1 and mALT2 proteins in Escherichia coli (E. coli) produced functional enzymes that catalyze alanine transamination. The potential diagnostic value of ALT isoenzymes in liver disease was evaluated in an obese animal model. In fatty livers of obese mice, ALT2 gene expression is induced 2-fold, but ALT1 remains the same. Furthermore, in fatty liver, total hepatic ALT activity is elevated significantly by 30% whereas aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activity remains unchanged. In conclusion, these results indicate that ALT2 may be responsible for the increased ALT activity in hepatic steatosis and provide evidence that an ALT isoenzyme-specific assay may have more diagnostic value than the total ALT activity assay currently in clinical use.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hep.20182 | DOI Listing |
J Coll Physicians Surg Pak
January 2025
Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Anhui, China.
Objective: To investigate the characteristics of Adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD) patients with macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) and explore the risk factors for the development of MAS.
Study Design: A case-control study. Place and Duration of the Study: Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, the Second Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Anhui, China, from January 2008 to June 2024.
Aliment Pharmacol Ther
January 2025
MASLD Research Center, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
Background: The current subclassification of steatotic liver disease (SLD) relies on validated questionnaires, such as Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and Lifetime Drinking History (LDH), which, while useful, are impractical and lack precision for their use in routine clinical practice. Phosphatidylethanol (PEth) is a quantitative, objective alcohol biomarker with high sensitivity and specificity.
Aims: To assess the diagnostic accuracy of PEth for differentiating metabolic dysfunction and alcohol-associated liver disease (MetALD) from metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) in a large, population-based, prospective, multiethnic cohort of individuals with overweight or obesity.
BMC Pulm Med
January 2025
Department of Public Health, People's Hospital of Nanchuan, Chongqing, 408400, People's Republic of China.
Background: The features of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) differ from those without. This study aims to spot a routinely tested parameter with discriminative, predictive and prognostic value to enhance CURB-65's prognostic accuracy in CAP patients with T2DM.
Methods: We retrospectively studied consecutive CAP patients from 2020 to 2021, comparing laboratory parameters between patients with and without T2DM.
Sci Rep
January 2025
Department of Clinical Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box 14155-6117, Tehran, Iran.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disorder affecting postmenopausal women. This study investigated the effects of intermittent fasting (IF) on antioxidant and inflammatory markers and liver enzymes in postmenopausal, overweight and obese women with RA. This 8-week randomized controlled trial included 44 postmenopausal women with RA divided into an intervention group following a 16:8 IF diet and a control group maintaining their usual diet and received recommendations for healthy eating.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Commun
January 2025
Laboratory of Molecular Translational Medicine, Center for Translational Medicine, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Pubertal timing is highly variable and is associated with long-term health outcomes. Phenotypes associated with pubertal timing include age at menarche, age at voice break, age at first facial hair and growth spurt, and pubertal timing seems to have a shared genetic architecture between the sexes. However, puberty phenotypes have primarily been assessed separately, failing to account for shared genetics, which limits the reliability of the purported health implications.
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