Transcriptomic coordination at hepatic steatosis indicates robust immune cell engagement prior to inflammation

BACKGROUND: Deregulation in lipid metabolism leads to the onset of hepatic steatosis while at subsequent stages of disease development, the induction of inflammation, marks the transition of steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. While differential gene expression unveils individual genes that are deregulated at different stages of disease development, how the whole transcriptome is deregulated in steatosis remains unclear. METHODS: Using outbred deer mice fed with high fat as a model, we assessed the correlation of each transcript with every other transcript in the transcriptome. The onset of steatosis in the liver was also evaluated histologically. RESULTS: Our results indicate that transcriptional reprogramming directing immune cell engagement proceeds robustly, even in the absence of histologically detectable steatosis, following administration of high fat diet. In the liver transcriptomes of animals with steatosis, a preference for the engagement of regulators of T cell activation and myeloid leukocyte differentiation was also recorded as opposed to the steatosis-free livers at which non-specific lymphocytic activation was seen. As compared to controls, in the animals with steatosis, transcriptome was subjected to more widespread reorganization while in the animals without steatosis, reorganization was less extensive. Comparison of the steatosis and non-steatosis livers showed high retention of coordination suggesting that diet supersedes pathology in shaping the transcriptome’s profile. CONCLUSIONS: This highly versatile strategy suggests that the molecular changes inducing inflammation proceed robustly even before any evidence of steatohepatitis is recorded, either histologically or by differential expression analysis. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12864-021-07784-y.