Hepatic gene expression profiling of streptozotocin-induced diabetes

Diabetes induces biochemical, morphological, and functional alterations in the liver. The liver is a major target of insulin action, and plays a critical role in maintaining blood glucose homeostasis. We investigated the effects of streptozotocin-induced diabetes (SID) on global hepatic gene expression in mice. We induced SID in mice by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin. Affymetrix (Santa Clara, CA) microarrays containing probe sets for approximately 11,000 murine genes and expressed sequence tags were used to assess the effects of SID on hepatic gene expression in mice. SID significantly altered the expression of 87 known genes in the liver. SID increased the expression of genes associated with cytoprotective stress responses, oxidative and reductive xenobiotic metabolism, cell cycle inhibition, growth arrest, apoptosis induction, and protein degradation. SID decreased the expression of genes associated with cell proliferation, growth factor signaling, protein synthesis, and xenobiotic metabolism. The novel results reported here should open new areas of investigation in diabetes research and facilitate the development of novel strategies for gene therapy and drug discovery.