Olivier Govaere
A high-throughput RNA sequencing approach to elucidate pathways of steatohepatitis
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a chronic disease characterized by abnormal cytoplasmic retention of triglycerides in the hepatocytes in the absence of excessive alcoholic intake or any hereditary disorder. The disease is classified histologically and ranges from from ‘simple’ steatosis to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, which may progress to cirrhosis and/or hepatocellular carcinoma. NAFLD is a common condition, strongly associated with the Metabolic Syndrome (obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus and dyslipidaemia) and affects 20-30% of the global population with a constant rise in the last few years.The majority of the NAFLD cases are diagnosed as steatohepatitis where ballooned hepatocyte degeneration and lobular necroinflammation is seen on a steatotic background. The degree of fibrosis is the most important factor predicting the risk of liver-related mortality, independent of any other histopathological criteria. It is still not clear which pathways contribute to the progression of the disease.
This study is part of the European EPoS project, led by Prof. Dr. Quentin Anstee, in which a multiomic approach is used to unravel the pathogenesis of NAFLD. The transcriptomic analysis, using RNA sequencing on a cohort of 200 liver biopsies, was done in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Ann K. Daly, Dr. Simon Cockell and Dr. Jonathan Coxhead from Newcastle University. We have found that mRNA expression levels change as NAFLD advances. The relevance of these changes in relation to the disease and understanding of the underlying mechanism will be considered.
Biography
Dr. Olivier Govaere is a senior research associate based at the Institute of Cellular Medicine, Newcastle University. He obtained his Master in Biomedical Sciences at the KU Leuven, Belgium.
In 2008 he joined the lab of Prof. Dr. Tania Roskams to do a PhD focusing on the role of hepatic progenitor cells in liver regeneration and carcinogenesis. He continued his work at the lab of Prof. Dr. Tania Roskams during a 3-year postdoctoral fellowship investigating phenotype switching in human hepatocellular carcinomas and characterisation of the human hepatic progenitor cell niche in chronic liver disease.
In 2015 Dr. Govaere joined the Newcastle liver group in the UK to work on the EPOS project (Elucidating Pathways of Steatohepatitis) together with Prof. Quentin M. Anstee, Prof. Ann Daley and Prof. Fiona Oakley.
