Increasing hepatocyte RNF13 activity for NASH

Increasing hepatocyte expression of the E3 ubiquitin ligase RNF13 can help treat NASH by stabilizing the E3 ligase TRIM29, which promotes proteasomal degradation of the inflammation- and lipid accumulation-promoting signaling molecule STING.

In two human liver cancer cell lines exposed to a lipid accumulation and inflammation-inducing medium, a gain-of-function screen of plasmids encoding innate immunity-regulating E3 ligases and deubiquitinating enzymes identified RNF13 overexpression as a reducer of lipid accumulation. ...