5E; Table S1), a situation that has recently been associated with enhanced macrophage apoptosis[25] and in which we found increased hepatic IL10 levels (Fig. 5F). Macrophage apoptosis was selective for M1 cells in these mice (Fig. 5E) and associated with predominant M2 polarization (Fig. S5). We investigated

the relationship of hepatic M2 signature with the severity of liver injury in liver biopsies obtained from heavy ongoing alcohol drinkers with limited fibrosis selleck chemical (Table 1). Patients were classified into two groups with minimally increased and elevated transaminases values at liver biopsy. There were no differences in age, daily alcohol intake, or duration of alcohol intoxication between groups (Table 1). Compared to patients with elevated transaminases (group 2), patients with minimally increased transaminases values (group 1) displayed limited hepatic injury, as shown by a lower grade of liver steatosis and a lower serum level of GPCR Compound Library caspase-generated keratin 18 fragment, a biomarker of hepatocyte apoptosis in ALD[18] (Table 1). Determination of liver M2 and M1 signatures showed a higher mRNA expression of the M2 markers CD206 and CD163 in patients with limited hepatic injury (group 1), compared to those with more severe lesions (group 2) (Fig. 6A), whereas expression of IL10 and of the

M1 marker TNF-α was similar in both groups (not shown). Cleaved-caspase-3 immunostaining disclosed negligible hepatocyte apoptosis in patients from group 1, compared to group 2 (Fig. 6B), and showed that positive hepatocytes were mostly circumscribed

in steatotic foci (Fig. 6B). Surprisingly, cleaved-caspase-3 signal was also detected in nonparenchymal cells, distant from steatotic foci, that were identified as macrophages by CD68 costaining (Fig. 6B). Finally, cleaved-caspase-3 positive macrophages were more frequently detected in patients with minimally increased transaminases values and negligible hepatocyte apoptosis (group 1) (Fig. 6B). We investigated the relevance of our findings in the context of NAFLD, both in mice and humans. C57BL6/J mice fed HFD for 27 weeks received curative treatment with resveratrol for the last 3 weeks (Table S1). HFD livers displayed increased F4/80+ cell density and preponderant M1 KC polarization (Fig. 7A). Administration nearly of resveratrol to HFD-fed mice decreased KC density back to normal levels, switched KC polarization towards a preponderant M2 phenotype, and triggered M1 KC apoptosis (Fig. 7C). Moreover, administration of resveratrol strongly improved NAFLD as shown by the near complete inhibition of hepatocyte apoptosis (Fig. 7C) and steatosis (Fig. 7B). We also compared T-cell activation markers in HFD and alcohol-fed mice treated with resveratrol. Resveratrol increased hepatic Th1 gene expression in HFD-fed mice, whereas it decreased Th1 markers in alcohol-exposed treated animals; Th2 and Th17 gene expression were not modified (not shown).