The role of hepatocyte R-spondin 2 in regulating hepatic steatosis and fibrosis.

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) primarily results from dysregulated lipid metabolism in hepatocytes. However, the mechanisms governing hepatic lipid metabolism remain incompletely understood. Our preliminary experiments demonstrated elevated expression of R-spondin 2 (RSPO2), a matricellular protein, in steatotic livers. To investigate the role of RSPO2 in MASLD and the potential mechanisms involved, we performed bulk RNA sequencing of liver samples from Apoe knockout mice injected with either control Gfp-AAV or Rspo2-AAV to induce RSPO2 overexpression, following 12 weeks of Western diet feeding. Total RNA from Gfp-AAV- or Rspo2-AAV-injected mice liver samples was isolated using TRIzol reagent according to the manufacturer's instructions. The quality of RNA was determined using the Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer System. The samples with RNA Integrity Numbers of more than 8 were sent to Novogene Corporation Inc., Sacramento, for bulk RNA-sequencing.