The Lysophospholipase PNPLA7 Controls Hepatic Choline and Methionine Metabolism

The in vivo roles of lysophospholipase, which cleaves a fatty acyl ester of lysophospholipid, remained unclear. Recently, we have unraveled a previously unrecognized physiological role of the lysophospholipase PNPLA7, a member of the Ca²⁺-independent phospholipase A₂ (iPLA₂) family, as a key regulator of the production of glycerophosphocholine (GPC), a precursor of endogenous choline, whose methyl groups are preferentially fluxed into the methionine cycle in the liver. PNPLA7 deficiency in mice markedly decreases hepatic GPC, choline, and several metabolites related to choline/methionine metabolism, leading to various symptoms reminiscent of methionine shortage. Overall metabolic alterations in the liver of Pnpla7-null mice in vivo largely recapitulate those in methionine-deprived hepatocytes in vitro. Reduction of the methyl donor S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) after methionine deprivation decreases the methylation of the PNPLA7 gene promoter, relieves PNPLA7 expression, and thereby increases GPC and choline levels, likely as a compensatory adaptation. In line with the view that SAM prevents the development of liver cancer, the expression of PNPLA7, as well as several enzymes in the choline/methionine metabolism, is reduced in human hepatocellular carcinoma. These findings uncover an unexplored role of a lysophospholipase in hepatic phospholipid catabolism coupled with choline/methionine metabolism.