Host response to cholestyramine can be mediated by the gut microbiota.

The gut microbiota has been implicated as a major factor contributing to metabolic diseases and the response to drugs used for the treatment of such diseases. In this study, we tested the effect of cholestyramine, a bile acid sequestrant that reduces blood cholesterol, on the murine gut microbiota and metabolism. We also explored the hypothesis that some effects of this drug on systemic metabolism can be attributed to alterations in the gut microbiota.

Multi-omic network analysis identified betacellulin as a novel target of omega-3 fatty acid attenuation of western diet-induced nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Clinical and preclinical studies established that supplementing diets with ω3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) can reduce hepatic dysfunction in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) but molecular underpinnings of this action were elusive. Herein, we used multi-omic network analysis that unveiled critical molecular pathways involved in ω3 PUFA effects in a preclinical mouse model of western diet induced NASH. Since NASH is a precursor of liver cancer, we also performed meta-analysis of human liver cancer transcriptomes that uncovered betacellulin as a key EGFR-binding protein upregulated in liver cancer and downregulated by ω3 PUFAs in animals and humans with NASH.