Identification of coinciding quantitative trait loci for the hepatic expression of SOCS3 and XBP-1 s during toxic and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Toxic and non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases are multifactorial (polygenic) disorders. A valuable tool to identify disease associated genetic loci is Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) mapping, i.e. genome-wide linkage analysis of genetic and phenotypic variation in experimental crosses. Here we employ QTL mapping to analyze the regulation of two previously identified mediators of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the inflammatory mediator SOCS3 and the unfolded protein response regulator XBP-1 s. In the first study, F2 intercross progeny of the inbred mouse lines A/J and C57BL/6J were fed a high-fat/high c…