The protective role of GNMT in the liver allows GNMT to not only serve as a marker of liver disease, but also potentially be applied in the treatment of liver disorders and hepatocellular carcinoma.
These results suggest that correction of hepatic GNMT by gene therapy of AAV8-mediated gene enhancement may provide a potential strategy for preventing and delaying development of liver diseases.
In addition, mutations in glycine-N-methyltransferase (GNMT) could be associated with a higher risk of hepatocellular carcinoma and liver disease due to an unbalanced S-adenosylmethionine (SAM)/S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) ratio, which leads to aberrant methylation reactions.