Figure 1. DKK1 expression is elevated in livers of mice and patients with NAFLD.

(A) Immunohistochemistry staining of DKK1 in the livers of patients with NAFLD (n = 5) and normal individuals (n = 3); scale bar = 100 µm, (B) in liver samples from WT mice fed with chow and HFD for 24 wk (n = 5). Scale bar = 100 µm. (C) qPCR analysis of DKK1 mRNA expression in livers of chow- and HFD-fed 24-wk mice (n = 4 mice for each group). (D, E) Representative Western blot of DKK1 in liver samples of chow- and HFD-fed mice (n = 4). Each lane represents liver lysates from individual mouse. (F) Serum DKK1 protein levels in chow- or HFD-fed mice for 24 wk (n = 15–17). (G) Western blot of DKK1 in different primary cells isolated from HFD-fed mice liver. Hep, hepatocytes; HSC, hepatic stellate cells; LSEC, liver sinusoidal endothelial cells; KC, Kupffer cells. (H) Western blot analysis of DKK1 in AML12 cells under different concentrations of FFA exposures (N = 2). **P < 0.01 as compared with the indicated controls by two-tailed t tests (two groups). All data are shown as the means ± SD.

Source data are available for this figure.