Gut microbiota alters host bile acid metabolism to contribute to intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy

Bo Tang, Li Tang, Shengpeng Li, Shuang Liu, Jialin He, Pan Li, Sumin Wang, Min Yang, Longhui Zhang, Yuanyuan Lei, Dianji Tu, Xuefeng Tang, Hua Hu, Qin Ouyang, Xia Chen () and Shiming Yang ()
Additional contact information
Bo Tang: Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University
Li Tang: Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University
Shengpeng Li: Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University
Shuang Liu: Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University
Jialin He: Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University
Pan Li: First People’s Hospital of Foshan
Sumin Wang: Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University
Min Yang: Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University
Longhui Zhang: Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University
Yuanyuan Lei: Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University
Dianji Tu: Army Medical University
Xuefeng Tang: Army Medical University
Hua Hu: Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University
Qin Ouyang: Army Medical University
Xia Chen: First People’s Hospital of Foshan
Shiming Yang: Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: Abstract Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is a female pregnancy-specific disorder that is characterized by increased serum bile acid and adverse fetal outcomes. The aetiology and mechanism of ICP are poorly understood; thus, existing therapies have been largely empiric. Here we show that the gut microbiome differed significantly between individuals with ICP and healthy pregnant women, and that colonization with gut microbiome from ICP patients was sufficient to induce cholestasis in mice. The gut microbiomes of ICP patients were primarily characterized by Bacteroides fragilis (B. fragilis), and B. fragilis was able to promote ICP by inhibiting FXR signaling via its BSH activity to modulate bile acid metabolism. B. fragilis-mediated FXR signaling inhibition was responsible for excessive bile acid synthesis and interrupted hepatic bile excretion to ultimately promote the initiation of ICP. We propose that modulation of the gut microbiota-bile acid-FXR axis may be of value for ICP treatment.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36981-4 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-36981-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36981-4

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().