Induction and siRNA-mediated downregulation of the lipid droplet-associated PAT-proteins adipophilin and TIP47 in cell culture models of hepatocyte steatosis

Hepatocellular lipid droplet (LD) accumulation is the most frequent liver pathology in western countries, and is caused by a broad range of disorders such as alcohol abuse and metabolic syndrome. The LD-surface is governed by amphiphilic proteins of the PAT-family (perilipin, adipophilin, TIP47;=PERILIPIN 1–3). Downregulation of adipophilin has been shown to inhibit diet-induced fatty liver in mice. For human liver, we demonstrated that other PAT-proteins including perilipin are enrolled as well and are differentially expressed. In this study, we characterized the expression pattern of LD-associated proteins in…