Anais da XXXVII Reunião Anual da FeSBE

Obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are coexisting conditions since NAFLD is 4 times more prevalent in obese patients. Excessive caloric consumption leads to the formation of new adipocytes, a process called adipogenesis, which is crucial to the stock of triglycerides (TG). Ectopic fat deposition can occur in the liver in response to the increase of fat content in the whole body. In obesity condition, a higher concentration of circulating TG is related to the very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) content in the bloodstream, which is responsible for transporting mostly TG to extrahepatic tissues. Recently, it was assumed that VLDL is also capable of transporting microRNAs. miR-122 is the most abundant microRNA in hepatocytes, involved in the silencing of essential mRNAs for lipid synthesis. In NAFLD models, miR-122 is downregulated in liver tissue. At the same time, studies have shown an increase in circulating miR-122 associated with extracellular vesicles or free in the serum.