Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center — Dr. Mengwei Zang receives an NIH RO1 Award ($1,566,000) to study non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Dr. Mengwei Zang is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Department of Medicine in Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Zang is the recipient of several research funds including the RO1 grant and R21 research awards of National Institutes Health to support groundbreaking studies investigating the molecular mechanism (s) of common chronic metabolic disease.

More recently, Dr. Zang has been awarded a $1.56 million ($391, 500/per year, 4 years) of R01 grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at National Institutes Health. The overall objective of this project is to define the metabolic consequence, intervention, and mechanism of a vitamin A-related nuclear receptor called retinoic acid receptor in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), one of the most common chronic liver diseases in the United States.

NAFLD affects over 71 million individuals in the United States. Hepatic steatosis is an early and reversible stage of NAFLD, which can advance to irreversible cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma with limited effective therapies. Therefore, the discovery of a novel metabolic pathway that present therapeutic targets is required to effectively manage hepatic steatosis. The ongoing research will use in vitro and in vivo animal models to elucidate how retinoic acid, a major metabolite of vitamin A, and its nuclear receptors maintain lipid homeostasis and slow the progression of NAFLD.

The proposed research is relevant to public health issue because accomplishing the goals of this research could provide the rationale for the development of a vitamin A-based intervention for NAFLD.