iTRAQ-based proteomics for studying the effects of dioscin against nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in rats

Abstract

Dioscin shows protective effects against liver injury in our previous works. However, its activity against nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and the mechanisms are still unknown. In this study, the effects of dioscin on high fat diet (HFD)-induced rats were tested, and one proteomic method was employed to investigate the possible mechanisms and biomarkers. The present work showed that dioscin showed significant hepatoprotective effects against NAFLD. Using iTRAQ labeling coupled with nano-LC-TOF-MS/MS analysis, a total of 449 altered proteins were found which connected with each other and were involved in different KEGG pathways based on bioinformatics analysis. Furthermore, 22 proteins which were involved in some important signaling pathways and may be the important biomarkers were validated by western blotting and quantitative real-time PCR assays. In conclusion, dioscin shows a significantly protective effect on NAFLD, and should be developed as a potential new drug for NAFLD treatment. Furthermore, our results not only provide new insights for treatment of NAFLD through affecting multiple drug targets and the cross-communication of many signal pathways, but also afford novel markers that may help to reveal the mechanisms of NAFLD, and prognostic assays and therapeutics for NAFLD.