Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Background
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the leading cause of chronic liver disease, which is associated with features of metabolic syndrome. NAFLD may progress in a subset of patients into nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) with liver injury resulting ultimately in cirrhosis and potentially hepatocellular carcinoma. Today, there is no approved treatment for NASH due to, at least in part, the lack of preclinical models recapitulating features of human disease. Here, we report the development of a dietary model of NASH in the Göttingen minipig.Methods
First, we performed a longitudinal characterization of diet-induced NASH and fibrosis using biochemical, histological, and transcriptional analyses. We then evaluated the pharmacological response to Obeticholic acid (OCA) treatment for 8 weeks at 2.5mg/kg/d, a dose matching its active clinical exposure.Results
Serial histological examinations revealed a rapid installation of NASH driven by massive steatosis and inflammation, including evidence of ballooning. Furthermore, we found the progressive development of both perisinusoidal and portal fibrosis reaching fibrotic septa after 6 months of diet. Histological changes were mechanistically supported by well-defined gene signatures identified by RNA Seq analysis. While treatment with OCA was well tolerated throughout the study, it did not improve liver dysfunction nor NASH progression. By contrast, OCA treatment resulted in a significant reduction in diet-induced fibrosis in this model.Conclusions
These results, taken together, indicate that the diet-induced NASH in the Göttingen minipig recapitulates most of the features of human NASH and may be a model with improved translational value to prioritize drug candidates toward clinical development.
SUBMITTER: Duvivier V
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9077241 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar-Apr
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Duvivier Valérie V Creusot Stéphanie S Broux Olivier O Helbert Aurélie A Lesage Ludovic L Moreau Kevin K Lesueur Nicolas N Gerard Lindsay L Lemaitre Karine K Provost Nicolas N Hubert Edwige-Ludiwyne EL Baltauss Tania T Brzustowski Angelique A De Preville Nathalie N Geronimi Julia J Adoux Lucie L Letourneur Franck F Hammoutene Adel A Valla Dominique D Paradis Valérie V Delerive Philippe P
Journal of clinical and experimental hepatology 20210908 2
<h4>Background</h4>Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the leading cause of chronic liver disease, which is associated with features of metabolic syndrome. NAFLD may progress in a subset of patients into nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) with liver injury resulting ultimately in cirrhosis and potentially hepatocellular carcinoma. Today, there is no approved treatment for NASH due to, at least in part, the lack of preclinical models recapitulating features of human disease. Here, we rep ...[more]