Project description:Cholestasis is a multifactorial disorder that compromises liver function. We wanted to examine Phase I and II drug metabolism in cholestatic livers. We performed high-throughput sequencing on livers from Fxr-/- Shp-/- double knockout mice, which mimic juvenile cholestasis. Next, we used comparative transcriptomic approach to test if the induction in drug metabolism is also seen in models of liver injury, including steatosis, regeneration and bile acid-stressed livers.
Project description:Hepatic cell lines serve as economical and reproducible alternatives for primary human hepatocytes. However, the utility of hepatic cell lines to examine bile acid homeostasis and cholestatic toxicity is limited due to abnormal expression and function of bile acid-metabolizing enzymes, transporters, and the absence of canalicular formation. Previously, addition of dexamethasone (DEX) and Matrigel™ overlay restored expression, localization, and function of the bile salt export pump (BSEP), and formation of bile canalicular-like structures in four-week cultures of HuH-7 human hepatoma cells. We present here an improved differentiation process with the addition of 0.5% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), which increased the expression and function of the major bile acid uptake and efflux transporters, sodium taurocholate co-transporting polypeptide (NTCP) and BSEP, respectively, in two-week HuH-7 cell cultures. This in vitro model was further characterized for expression of cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYP450s), uridine 5'-diphospho-glucuronosyltransferase (UGTs) and transporters using quantitative targeted proteomics.
Project description:Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is estimated to impact between 0.4% and 5% of pregnancies worldwide. This disease is associated with elevated maternal bile acids and frequently untoward neonatal outcomes such as respiratory distress and asphyxia. Multiple candidate genes have been implicated, but none have provided insight into the mechanisms of neonatal respiratory distress and death. Herein our studies demonstrate that maternal cholestasis (due to Abcb11 deficiency) produces 100% neonatal death within 24h due to atelectasis producing pulmonary hypoxia, which recapitulates the respiratory distress and asphyxia of human ICP. We show that these neonates have elevated pulmonary bile acids that are associated with disrupted structure of pulmonary surfactant. Maternal absence of Nr1i2 superimposed upon Abcb11 deficiency strongly increased neonatal survival and is directly related to reduced maternal bile acid concentrations. The mechanism accounting for reduced serum bile acids in the mothers deficient in both Nr1i2 and Abcb11 appears related to disrupted reabsorption of intestinal bile acids due to changes in transporter expression. These findings provide novel insights into pulmonary failure by revealing bile acids capability to disrupt the structure of surfactant producing collapsed alveoli, pulmonary failure and ultimately death. These findings have important implications for neonatal health especially when maternal bile acids are elevated during pregnancy and highlight a potential pathway and targets amenable to therapeutic intervention to ameliorate this condition.
Project description:Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is estimated to impact between 0.4% and 5% of pregnancies worldwide. This disease is associated with elevated maternal bile acids and frequently untoward neonatal outcomes such as respiratory distress and asphyxia. Multiple candidate genes have been implicated, but none have provided insight into the mechanisms of neonatal respiratory distress and death. Herein our studies demonstrate that maternal cholestasis (due to Abcb11 deficiency) produces 100% neonatal death within 24h due to atelectasis producing pulmonary hypoxia, which recapitulates the respiratory distress and asphyxia of human ICP. We show that these neonates have elevated pulmonary bile acids that are associated with disrupted structure of pulmonary surfactant. Maternal absence of Nr1i2 superimposed upon Abcb11 deficiency strongly increased neonatal survival and is directly related to reduced maternal bile acid concentrations. The mechanism accounting for reduced serum bile acids in the mothers deficient in both Nr1i2 and Abcb11 appears related to disrupted reabsorption of intestinal bile acids due to changes in transporter expression. These findings provide novel insights into pulmonary failure by revealing bile acids capability to disrupt the structure of surfactant producing collapsed alveoli, pulmonary failure and ultimately death. These findings have important implications for neonatal health especially when maternal bile acids are elevated during pregnancy and highlight a potential pathway and targets amenable to therapeutic intervention to ameliorate this condition. We used microarrays to measure changes in gene expression profiles in lung tissues from Abcb11+/- lungs after interbreeding C57BL/6 wild-type female or C57BL/6 Abcb11-/- female mice against either C57BL/6 wild-type male mice or C57BL/6 Abcb11-/- male mice to create only heterozygote offspring. We also measured profiles in liver tissues from age-matched C57BL/6 wild-type and C57BL/6 Abcb11-/- mice. Lung tissues were collected from day E17.5, E18.5 and neonatal (N0) mice. Liver tissues were collected from 1.5-month-old C57BL/6 wildtype and Abcb11-/- mice.
Project description:The occurrence of hepatic cholestasis during pregnancy is accompanied by the disorders of glucose and lipid metabolism, especially the acceleration of glycolysis. Here, we reported a novel mechanism that the glycolysis metabolic intermediate lactate-induced histone 4 at K12 (H4K12) hyperlactylation aggravates bile acid (BA) dysfunction in intrahepatic cholestasis during pregnancy by activating c-JUN and in turn facilitating RXRɑ cytoplasmic relocalization. Lactylome analysis in livers of late pregnant sows with high levels of BA revealed induction of H4K12 hyperlactylation. Target correction of aberrant histone lactylation prevented the hepatic BA disorders in both sows and mice models. Mechanistically, H4K12la was enriched in promoter regions of c-JUN and activated its expression Moreover, activated c-JUN facilitated the RXRɑ phosphorylation and cytoplasmic relocalization, which resulted in the activation of whole BA synthesis pathway and inhibition of BA transport pathway. Inhibitor of the glycolysis pathway and lactate inhibitor as nutritional intervention ameliorated BA metabolic disorder in pregnant sows and cholestasis in mice. Our findings demonstrate the catalytic role of lactate on hepatic BA disorders in late pregnancy, we also provided a novel pattern of nutritional intervention to precisely target and regulate bile acid metabolism, and may open the new direction of nutritional epigenetic regulation of metabolic diseases.
Project description:Specific bile acids are potent signaling molecules that modulate metabolic pathways affecting lipid, glucose and bile acid homeostasis, and the microbiota. Bile acids are synthesized from cholesterol in the liver, and the key enzymes involved in bile acid synthesis (Cyp7a1, Cyp8b1) are regulated transcriptionally by the nuclear receptor FXR. We have identified an FXR-regulated pathway upstream of a transcriptional repressor that controls multiple bile acid metabolism genes. We identify MafG as an FXR target gene and show that hepatic MAFG overexpression represses genes of the bile acid synthetic pathway and modifies the biliary bile acid composition. In contrast, loss-of-function studies using MafG(+/-) mice causes de-repression of the same genes with concordant changes in biliary bile acid levels. Finally, we identify functional MafG response elements in bile acid metabolism genes using ChIP-seq analysis. Our studies identify a molecular mechanism for the complex feedback regulation of bile acid synthesis controlled by FXR.
Project description:Liver cholestasis is a chronic liver disease (CLD) which belongs to a major health problem. Cholestasis is characterised by a decrease in bile flow due to impaired secretion by hepatocytes or by obstruction of bile flow through intra- or extrahepatic bile ducts. Thereby cholestasis can induce ductal proliferation, hepatocyte injury and liver fibrosis. Notch signalling promotes the formation and maturation of ductular reactions. We investigated the liver regeneration process in the context of cholestasis induced by disruption of the Notch signalling pathway. Liver-specific deletion of Rbpj, which represents a key regulator of Notch signalling, induces severe cholestasis through impaired IHBD maturation, severe necrosis and increased lethality. Deregulation of the biliary compartment and cholestasis are associated with change of several signalling pathways including the Hippo pathway resulting in upregulation of SOX9, which is associated with transdifferentiation of hepatocytes. SOX9 upregulation in cholestatic liver injury in vitro is independent of Notch signalling. We could comprehensively address that Rbpj depletion is followed by deregulation of YAP/TEAD, which influences transdifferentiation of hepatocytes and thereby contributing to liver regeneration. In this study the liver regeneration process was analyzed in 4 weeks old Rbpj knockout mice and compared to 4 weeks old Rbpj wildtype mice.
Project description:We used microarrays to provide a transcriptomic signature of different types of cholestasis evoked by 3 different drugs and obstructive surgery Adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) have been recently introduced as tools to map the mechanisms underlying toxic events relevant for chemical risk assessment. AOPs particularly depict the linkage between a molecular initiating event and an adverse outcome through a number of intermediate key events. An AOP has been previously introduced for cholestatic liver injury. The objective of this study was to test the robustness of this AOP for different types of cholestatic insult and the in vitro to in vivo extrapolation. For this purpose, in vitro samples from human hepatoma HepaRG cell cultures were exposed to cholestatic drugs (i.e. intrahepatic cholestasis), while in vivo samples were obtained from livers of cholestatic mice (i.e. extrahepatic cholestasis). The occurrence of cholestasis in vitro was confirmed through analysis of bile transporter functionality and bile acid analysis. Transcriptomic analysis revealed inflammation and oxidative stress as key events in both types of cholestatic liver injury. Major transcriptional differences between intrahepatic and extrahepatic cholestatic liver insults were observed at the level of cell death and metabolism. Novel key events identified by pathway analysis included endoplasmic reticulum stress in intrahepatic cholestasis, and autophagy and necroptosis in both intrahepatic as extrahepatic cholestasis. This study demonstrates that AOPs constitute dynamic tools that should be frequently updated with new input information.
Project description:Determine in the context of a controlled crossover diet-intervention trial the role of taurocholic acid metabolism by gut bacteria in African American subjects at elevated risk for colorectal cancer (CRC). Two isocaloric diets, an animal-based diet high in taurine and saturated fat (HT-HSAT) and a plant-based, low in taurine and low saturated fat (LT-LSAT) will be used to determine the extent to which the relationship between diet (independent variable) and mucosal markers of CRC risk including epithelial proliferation, oxidative stress, DNA damage, and primary and secondary bile acid pools and biomarkers of inflammation (dependent variables) is explained by the abundance of sulfidogenic bacteria and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) concentrations &/or deoxycholic acid (DCA) and DCA-producing bacteria clostridium scindens (mediator variables).
Project description:Extrahepatic cholestasis leads to complex injury and repair processes that result in bile infarct formation, neutrophil infiltration, cholangiocyte and hepatocyte proliferation, extracellular matrix remodeling, and fibrosis. To identify early molecular mechanisms of injury and repair after bile duct obstruction, microarray analysis was performed on liver tissue 24 hours after bile duct ligation (BDL) or sham surgery. The most upregulated gene identified encodes plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1, Serpine 1), a protease inhibitor that blocks urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) and tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) activity. Because PAI-1, uPA, and tPA influence growth factor and cytokine processing as well as extracellular matrix remodeling, we evaluated the role of PAI-1 in cholestatic liver injury by comparing the injury and repair processes in wild-type (WT) and PAI-1-deficient (PAI-1-/-) mice after BDL. PAI-1-/- mice had fewer and smaller bile infarcts, less neutrophil infiltration, and higher levels of cholangiocyte and hepatocyte proliferation than WT animals after BDL. Furthermore, PAI-1-/- mice had higher levels of tPA activation and mature hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) after BDL than WT mice, suggesting that PAI-1 effects on HGF activation critically influence cholestatic liver injury. This was further supported by elevated levels of c-Met and Akt phosphorylation in PAI-1-/- mice after BDL. In conclusion, PAI-1 deficiency reduces liver injury after BDL in mice. These data suggest that inhibiting PAI-1 might attenuate liver injury in cholestatic liver diseases. Total RNA isolated using TRI Reagent (Sigma, St. Louis, MO) was purified with an RNeasy mini kit (Qiagen, Valencia, CA). Twenty micrograms cRNA was hybridized to a mouse GeneChip (U74Av2, Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA) at the Siteman Cancer Center GeneChip facility as described by the manufacturer. Analyses used one mouse per chip. Gene expression changes were analyzed using Affymetrix MicroArray Suite 4.0 and GeneChip 3.1 Expression Analysis and Statistical Algorithms (Affymetrix). The complete methodology and full data sets for all 6 analyzed chips are available at http://bioinformatics.wustl.edu.beckerproxy.wustl.edu This study compares the injury and repair processed in wild-type mice after BDL.