Project description:The liver is the central organ critically regulating the balance of the metabolically potent yet toxic bile acids in the body. While genomic association studies have pointed to hepatic Sel1L – a critical component of mammalian Hrd1 ER-associated degradation (ERAD) machinery – as an influencer of serum bile acid levels, physiological relevance and mechanistic insights of ERAD in bile homeostasis remain unexplored. Using hepatocyte-specific Sel1L-deficient mouse models, we report that hepatic Sel1L-Hrd1 ERAD critically manages bile homeostasis in the body. Mice with hepatocyte-specific Sel1L developed intrahepatic cholestasis, with significant overload of bile acids in the liver and circulation under basal condition, and were hypersensitive to dietary bile acid challenge. By contrast, biliary bile acid and phosphatidylcholine levels were reduced, pointing to an export defect from hepatocytes. Unbiased proteomics analysis followed by biochemical assays revealed significant accumulation of the bile-stabilizing phosphatidylcholine exporter ATP-binding cassette 4 (Abcb4) in the ER of Sel1L-deficient livers, a gene associated with Progressive Familial Intrahepatic Cholestasis type III. Indeed, Abcb4 was a substrate of Sel1L-Hrd1 ERAD. Hence, hepatic Sel1L-Hrd1 ERAD maintains bile equilibrium via quality control of Abcb4 maturation in the ER.
Project description:Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is strongly associated withan increased risk of adverse perinatal outcomes. Total bile acid (TBA) levels in the late second or third trimester are a major factor in the diagnosis. Here, we sought to establish the miRNA expression profile of plasma exosomes of ICP and identify possible biomarkers for the diagnosis of ICP.
Project description:We investigated bile-acid induced gene expression patterns in regulatory T-cells, and applied those gene sets to gene expression profiles of liver samples obtained from children with biliary atresia and intrahepatic cholestasis. Patient subgroups identified using the regulatory T-cell gene sets were then assessed for association with two-year outcome in patients with biliary atresia.
Project description:Intrahepatic cholestasis (IC) is a common symptom of liver diseases but with limited treatment. Huangqi decoction (HQD), a classic herbal medicine, has shown protective effects against IC. In this study, the iTRAQ-based quantitative proteomics was performed to investigate the potential mechanism of HQD on alpha-naphthylisothiocyanate (ANIT) induced IC, resulting in 2,796 quantified proteins across all the samples, including 270 differentially expressed proteins under HQD treatment. Fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering analysis of these 270 proteins revealed that the pro-inflammatory proteins, such as LCN2, SAA1, FGG, FGA, and FGB, were assigned in the Cluster 1 (up-regulated by ANIT, and down-regulated by HQD). Following functional bioinformatics analysis and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis represented that these pro-inflammatory proteins were involved in the STAT3 signaling pathway. Further real-time PCR and Western blot experiments confirmed that the expression of these proteins was consistent with the proteomic results. Moreover, HQD treatment decreased the phosphorylation of STAT3 that induced by ANIT. And Western blot experiments also revealed that HQD could decrease phosphorylation of NF-κB and down-regulate the expression inflammatory genes IL-6, and therefore inhibit IL-6/STATA3 signaling pathway. In summary, the present study suggested that HQD treatment may ameliorate intrahepatic cholestasis via inhibiting the NF-κB/IL-6/STAT3 signaling pathway.
Project description:<p>This longitudinal observational study will investigate the natural history and progression of four genetic causes of intrahepatic cholestasis of childhood, including alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (α1-AT), Alagille syndrome (AGS), progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC), and bile acid synthesis defects (BAD). This study will be conducted as part of the Cholestatic Liver Disease Consortium (CLiC), an NIH-funded multi-centered Rare Disease Clinical Research Consortium. In this study, we will collect defined data elements in a uniform fashion at fixed intervals for five years over a relatively large number of patients with these rare disorders. In addition, a biobank of patient specimens and DNA samples will be established for use in ancillary studies to be performed in addition to this study. By comparing outcome measures between the four liver diseases (i.e., using each disorder as a disease-control for the other disorders), the full impact of each disorder can best be determined in comparison to the other liver diseases. Using the longitudinal database in this fashion, this study will provide an improved understanding of the effects of the cholestatic liver during childhood irrespective of the underlying etiology as well as to the pathophysiology, outcome, and complications of each of the disorders. This initial characterization will allow calculation of sample sizes for future therapeutic intervention clinical trials and provide the baseline to which interventions should be compared.</p>
Project description:Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is a pregnancy-specific liver disease, which can lead to adverse fetal outcomes, including preterm labor and intrauterine death. The pathogenesis of ICP is still unclear. We hypothesized that pathological index leads to abnormal placenta changes in ICP. Investigation of these differences in protein expression in parallel profiling is essential to understand the comprehensive pathophysiological mechanism underlying intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy(ICP)
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.