Cited by 211Liver Disease Diagnosis and TreatmentCancer, Lipids, and MetabolismLipid metabolism and biosynthesis

CD36 promotes de novo lipogenesis in hepatocytes through INSIG2-dependent SREBP1 processing

Open access
Zeng, Han, Qin, Hong, Liao, Meng, Zheng, Enze, Luo, Xiaoqing, Xiao, Anhua, Li, Yiyu, Chen, Lin +5 more·2022·Molecular Metabolism

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Enhanced de novo lipogenesis (DNL) in hepatocytes is a major contributor to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Fatty acid translocase (FAT/CD36) is involved in the pathogenesis of NAFLD through facilitating free fatty acids uptake. Here, we explored the effects of CD36 on DNL and elucidated the underlying mechanisms. METHODS: We generated hepatocyte-specific CD36 knockout (CD36LKO) mice to study in vivo effects of CD36 on DNL under high-fat diet (HFD). Lipid deposition and DNL were analyzed in primary hepatocytes isolated from CD36LKO mice or HepG2 cells with CD36 overexpression. RNA sequence, co-immunoprecipitation, and proximity ligation assay were carried out to determine its role in regulating DNL. RESULTS: Hepatic CD36 expression was upregulated in NAFLD mice and patients, and CD36LKO mice exhibited attenuated HFD-induced hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance. We identified hepatocyte CD36 as a key regulator for DNL in the liver. Sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 (SREBP1) and its downstream lipogenic enzymes such as FASN, ACCα, and ACLY were significantly downregulated in the liver of HFD-fed CD36LKO mice, whereas overexpression CD36 stimulated insulin-mediated DNL and lipid droplet formation in vitro. Mechanistically, CD36 was activated by insulin and formed a complex with insulin-induced gene-2 (INSIG2) that disrupts the interaction between SREBP cleavage-activating protein (SCAP) and INSIG2, thereby leading to the translocation of SREBP1 from ER to Golgi for processing. Furthermore, treatment with 25-hydroxycholesterol or betulin molecules shown to enhance SCAP-INSIG interaction, reversed the effects of CD36 on SREBP1 cleavage. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings identify a previously unsuspected role of CD36 in the regulation of hepatic lipogenic program through mediating SREBP1 processing by INSIG2, providing additional evidence for targeting CD36 in NAFLD.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.molmet.2021.101428

Cites

55 of 55 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The THBS1/2-CD36 interaction may influence MASLD.

    “which may influence metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD)48”

    From Spatial transcriptomics of healthy and fibrotic human liver at single-cell resolution (2025) · cites this paper as [48]

    The Introduction and Discussion link CD36 to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and the Results report that hepatocyte-specific CD36 deletion protected mice from high-fat-diet-induced steatosis. But the interaction examined in the Results is CD36–INSIG2; our copy does not establish a THBS1/2–CD36 interaction or its effect on liver disease (searched: THBS1, THBS2, thrombospondin). (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

1 of the 56 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Zhang, 2020, The CC genotype of insulin-induced gene 2 rs7566605 is a protective factor of hypercholesteremia susceptible to mild cognitive impairment, especially to the executive function of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, BioMed Research International, 2020

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Zeng, H., Qin, H., Liao, M., Zheng, E., Luo, X., Xiao, A., Li, Y., Chen, L., Wei, L., Zhao, L., Ruan, X. Z., Yang, P., & Chen, Y.
Affiliations
  • Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University (CN)
  • The Royal Free Hospital (GB)
Corresponding author
  • Yang, Ping
  • Chen, Yaxi
Venue
Molecular Metabolism
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2022-03
Volume
57
Pages
101428
ISSN
2212-8778 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4200530196
Cited by
211
References
56
Citations by year
2026: 35 · 2025: 68 · 2024: 61 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 12
FWCI
19.45
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Molecular Metabolism (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (20190120, 2018YFC1312700, 81873569, 32030054, cstc2020jcyj, D20028)
  • Chongqing Medical University (D20028)
  • Chongqing Research Program of Basic Research and Frontier Technology (cstc2020jcyj-msxmX0205)
  • Higher Education Discipline Innovation Project (D20028)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cancer Research › Cancer, Lipids, and Metabolism
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biochemistry › Lipid metabolism and biosynthesis
Keywords
CD36, de novo lipogenesis, hepatocytes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, INSIG2, SREBP1, SCAP, insulin signaling, hepatic steatosis, insulin resistance, lipid droplet formation, 25-hydroxycholesterol, betulin, free fatty acid uptake, high-fat diet
MeSH terms
Animals, Humans, Membrane Proteins, CD36 Antigens, Hepatocytes, Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins, Lipogenesis, Mice, Sterol Regulatory Element Binding Protein 1, Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review