Hepatic triglyceride lipase plays an essential role in changing the lipid metabolism in genotype 1b hepatitis C virus replicon cells and hepatitis C patients.

Aim: Recently, several studies have shown the existence of associations between lipoprotein profiles and hepatitis C virus (HCV), although only a limited amount of information is available about the mechanisms underlying the changes in the lipoprotein profiles associated with HCV. In this study, we investigated the association between lipoprotein profile, classified according to the particle size, and lipoprotein metabolism.

Methods: We used four kinds of cells for this experiment; full-length genome HCV RNA replicon cells (OR6), sub-genomic HCV RNA replicon cells (sO), and OR6c cells and sOc cells, which were the same cell lines treated with interferon-α. The triglyceride (TG) levels in the lipoprotein subclasses of the culture medium were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography. The mRNA expression levels of several molecules associated with lipoprotein metabolism were measured in the OR6, OR6c, sO and sOc cells. To confirm some of the results obtained using the in vitro system, liver biopsy samples obtained from the patients were also examined.

Results: The content of TG in the large low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and medium LDL in the culture medium was increased only in the OR6 cells. The hepatic triglyceride lipase (HTGL) mRNA expression levels were lower in the OR6 cells than in the OR6c cells (P < 0.01). Examination of the HTGL expression levels in the patients' livers revealed a decrease in HTGL expression in the chronic hepatitis C liver as compared with that in the chronic hepatitis B or non-alcoholic steatohepatitis liver (P < 0.01).

Conclusion: We showed that HCV inhibits HTGL production in hepatocytes, inducing a change of the lipoprotein profile.