Trehalose Does Not Improve Alcohol‐Impaired TFEB and Liver Injury in Mice

Abstract

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is one of the major causes of chronic liver disease worldwide. We previously demonstrated that chronic plus acute alcohol binge (“Gao‐binge”) impaired hepatic transcription factor EB (TFEB), a master regulator of lysosomal biogenesis, resulted in insufficient autophagy that contributes to Gao‐binge alcohol‐induced liver injury in mice. Trehalose, a disaccharide, has been shown to activate TFEB and protects against diet‐induced non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease in mice. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether trehalose would reverse impaired TFEB and insufficient autophagy induced by Gao‐binge alcohol and in turn protect against Gao‐binge alcohol‐induced liver injury. We found that trehalose increased TFEB nuclear translocation, elevated levels of LC3‐II and lysosomal proteins in cultured AML12 cells and in mouse livers, confirming the activation of TFEB by trehalose. Surprisingly, trehalose failed to activate TFEB in Gao‐binge alcohol‐treated mouse livers. As a result, trehalose failed to protect against Gao‐binge alcohol‐induced liver injury and steatosis. However, Gao‐binge alcohol increased infiltration of hepatic neutrophils and levels of inflammatory cytokine gene expression, which were attenuated by trehalose, suggesting trehalose inhibits alcohol‐induced inflammation independent of TFEB activation. In conclusion, our results indicate that trehalose fails to improve the impaired TFEB and liver injury but ameliorates hepatic inflammation induced by Gao‐binge alcohol.Support or Funding InformationNIH R01 AA020518, R01 DK102142, U01 AA024733 AND P30GM118247 (W.X.D).