Research Paper Volume 7, Issue 12 pp 1086—1093

Prevention of diet-induced hepatic steatosis and hepatic insulin resistance by second generation antisense oligonucleotides targeted to the longevity gene mIndy (Slc13a5)

Dominik H. Pesta1,2,4,5,6, , Rachel J. Perry1,2,3, , Fitsum Guebre-Egziabher1, , Dongyan Zhang2, , Michael Jurczak1, , Antje Fischer-Rosinsky7, , Martin A. Daniels7,8, , Diana M. Willmes8,9, , Sanjay Bhanot10, , Stefan R. Bornstein8,9,11, , Felix Knauf12, , Varman T. Samuel1,13, , Gerald I. Shulman1,2,3, , Andreas L. Birkenfeld8,9,11, ,

  • 1 Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06519, USA
  • 2 Cellular & Molecular Physiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06519, USA
  • 3 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06519, USA
  • 4 Department of Sport Science, Medical Section, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
  • 5 Department of Visceral, Transplant, and Thoracic Surgery, D. Swarovski Research Laboratory, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
  • 6 Institute for Clinical Diabetology, German Diabetes Center, Leibniz Center for Diabetes Research at Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, German Center for Diabetes Research, Partner Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
  • 7 Charité – University School of Medicine, Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Nutrition, Berlin, Germany
  • 8 Section of Metabolic Vascular Medicine, Medical Clinic III and Paul Langerhans Institute Dresden (PLID), TU Dresden, Germany
  • 9 German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), Dresden, Germany
  • 10 Isis Pharmaceuticals, Carlsbad, CA 92008, USA
  • 11 Section of Diabetes and Nutritional Sciences, Rayne Institute, King's College London, London, UK
  • 12 University Clinic Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
  • 13 Veterans Affairs Medical Center, West Haven, CT 06516, USA

Received: November 20, 2015       Accepted: November 29, 2015       Published: December 5, 2015      

https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.100854
How to Cite

Copyright: © 2015 Pesta et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Reducing the expression of the Indy (I'm Not Dead Yet) gene in lower organisms extends life span by mechanisms resembling caloric restriction. Similarly, deletion of the mammalian homolog, mIndy (Slc13a5), encoding for a plasma membrane tricarboxylate transporter, protects from aging- and diet-induced adiposity and insulin resistance in mice. The organ specific contribution to this phenotype is unknown. We examined the impact of selective inducible hepatic knockdown of mIndy on whole body lipid and glucose metabolism using 2′-O-methoxyethyl chimeric anti-sense oligonucleotides (ASOs) in high-fat fed rats. 4-week treatment with 2′-O-methoxyethyl chimeric ASO reduced mIndy mRNA expression by 91% (P<0.001) compared to control ASO. Besides similar body weights between both groups, mIndy-ASO treatment lead to a 74% reduction in fasting plasma insulin concentrations as well as a 35% reduction in plasma triglycerides. Moreover, hepatic triglyceride content was significantly reduced by the knockdown of mIndy, likely mediating a trend to decreased basal rates of endogenous glucose production as well as an increased suppression of hepatic glucose production by 25% during a hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp. Together, these data suggest that inducible liver-selective reduction of mIndy in rats is able to ameliorate hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance, conditions occurring with high calorie diets and during aging.

Abbreviations

ASO: Anti-sense oligonucleotide; HEC: hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp; NAFLD: nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.