Cedars-Sinai Finds Liver-Protecting Enzyme UBE2N — SkimNews
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- Cedars-Sinai researchers identified the enzyme UBE2N as a natural defense against worsening fatty liver disease, finding it helps liver cells clear damaged mitochondria and break down fat.
- The multicenter study, published in Nature Metabolism, found that UBE2N levels decline in liver cells as MASLD advances, correlating with increased inflammation and cell injury.
- Restoring UBE2N to normal levels in laboratory mice reduced fat accumulation, inflammation, and scarring in the liver, according to co-corresponding author Ekihiro Seki, MD, PhD.
- An estimated 100 million Americans have MASLD (formerly nonalcoholic fatty liver disease), and 20% to 25% of those patients develop the more severe MASH, which currently has no cure.
- Co-author Shelly Lu, MD, said future studies will test whether enhancing the UBE2N pathway can complement existing treatments and identify which patients are most likely to benefit.
Why it matters: For the 100 million Americans with MASLD and the roughly one-in-four who progress to the more severe MASH, this preclinical Cedars-Sinai finding names UBE2N as a concrete new pathway future therapies could target—significant because current MASH care relies on lifestyle changes and limited medications with no cure available.
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