# RNA Modification Changes in Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE · 2024 · $183,217

## Abstract

Abstract. Alcohol consumption is a predominant etiological factor in the pathogenesis of chronic liver diseases.
The progressive nature of alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) has been well described, but the complex
interactions under which these pathologies evolve remain only partially elucidated. Based on our preliminary
study, free nucleosides and nucleosides hydrolyzed from total RNA are altered in mice treated with alcohol and
in a human liver cell line, HepaRG, treated with acetaldehyde. We also observed significant changes in the
serum and urine of patients with different stages of ALD. Therefore, we hypothesize that alcohol consumption
affects RNAs' chemical modification and contributes to ALD development and progression. To prove this
hypothesis, we will treat mice with alcohol and first map the chemical modifications on RNAs by isolating different
types of RNAs from mouse liver, digesting them into nucleosides and oligonucleotides, and detecting the site-
specific modification on each RNA using comprehensive 2DLC-MS (Aim 1). And then, RNA modification variation
will be studied between alcohol fed and normal fed mice at the RNA level, and the underlying mechanism will be
uncovered by detecting the expression of the corresponding enzymes (Aim 2).
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## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10871387
- **Project number:** 1R21AA031563-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE
- **Principal Investigator:** Liqing He
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $183,217
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-15 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10871387

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10871387, RNA Modification Changes in Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease (1R21AA031563-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10871387. Licensed CC0.

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