Cited by 2,435Liver Disease Diagnosis and TreatmentGut microbiota and healthInflammasome and immune disorders

Inflammasome-mediated dysbiosis regulates progression of NAFLD and obesity

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Henao-Mejia, Jorge, Elinav, Eran, Jin, Chengcheng, Hao, Liming, Mehal, Wajahat Z., Strowig, Till, Thaiss, Christoph A., Kau, Andrew L. +7 more·2012·Nature

Abstract

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome and the leading cause of chronic liver disease in the Western world. Twenty per cent of NAFLD individuals develop chronic hepatic inflammation (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, NASH) associated with cirrhosis, portal hypertension and hepatocellular carcinoma, yet the causes of progression from NAFLD to NASH remain obscure. Here, we show that the NLRP6 and NLRP3 inflammasomes and the effector protein IL-18 negatively regulate NAFLD/NASH progression, as well as multiple aspects of metabolic syndrome via modulation of the gut microbiota. Different mouse models reveal that inflammasome-deficiency-associated changes in the configuration of the gut microbiota are associated with exacerbated hepatic steatosis and inflammation through influx of TLR4 and TLR9 agonists into the portal circulation, leading to enhanced hepatic tumour-necrosis factor (TNF)-α expression that drives NASH progression. Furthermore, co-housing of inflammasome-deficient mice with wild-type mice results in exacerbation of hepatic steatosis and obesity. Thus, altered interactions between the gut microbiota and the host, produced by defective NLRP3 and NLRP6 inflammasome sensing, may govern the rate of progression of multiple metabolic syndrome-associated abnormalities, highlighting the central role of the microbiota in the pathogenesis of heretofore seemingly unrelated systemic auto-inflammatory and metabolic disorders.

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  • LPS-mediated activation of KCs via TLR4 leading to MyD88-dependent activation of NF-kB, production of proinflammatory cytokines and subsequent liver injury has been demonstrated for both MASH and ASH.

    “LPS-mediated activation of KCs via TLR4 leading to MyD88-dependent activation of NF-kB, production of proinflammatory cytokines and subsequent liver injury have also been demonstrated for both MASH(214) and ASH(215).”

    From The liver as a central "hub" of the immune system: pathophysiological implications (2025) · cites this paper as [214]

    The Results (page unavailable) show that gut-derived TLR4 and TLR9 agonists promote NASH progression in mice, and that TNF-α contributes to the associated liver injury. But the paper does not demonstrate the more specific chain of LPS activation of Kupffer cells through TLR4, MyD88-dependent NF-κB activation, and cytokine production; its signaling experiment used mice deficient in both MyD88 and TRIF. The separate ASH citation is outside this source's attribution. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • In NAFLD models, lack of inflammasomes has been demonstrated to select a pathogenetic microbiota which was associated with a more severe degree of liver injury.

    “In NAFLD models, lack of inflammasomes has been demonstrated to select a pathogenetic microbiota which was associated with a more severe degree of liver injury [226].”
  • In patients with NASH or animal models, expression of inflammasome components was increased, indicating a potential role in the pathogenesis of liver injury.

    “Either in patients with NASH or animal models, the expression of inflammasome components was increased, indicating the potential role in the pathogenesis of liver injury [226,227,288,289,290,291].”
  • Complex interactions between diet, innate immunity, bacteria, and intestinal function occur in the development of NASH.

    “These results indicate that complex interactions between the diet, the innate immunity, bacteria and intestinal function occurs in the development of NASH [226,227], and similar observations were obtained in experimental models of HCC development [285,286,287].”
  • Animal studies have demonstrated a direct role of altered intestinal microbiota in steatosis, NASH, fibrosis and liver cancer.

    “Animal studies have demonstrated a direct role of altered intestinal microbiota in steatosis,15 NASH(16), fibrosis17 and liver cancer.18”

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Authors
Henao-Mejia, J., Elinav, E., Jin, C., Hao, L., Mehal, W. Z., Strowig, T., Thaiss, C. A., Kau, A. L., Eisenbarth, S. C., Jurczak, M. J., Camporez, J.-P., Shulman, G. I., Gordon, J. I., Hoffman, H. M., & Flavell, R. A.
Affiliations
  • Yale University (US)
  • Washington University in St. Louis (US)
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
  • University of California San Diego (US)
Corresponding author
Flavell, Richard A.
Venue
Nature
Published
2012-02
Volume
482
Issue
7384
Pages
179-185
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
OpenAlex
W2144275312
Cited by
2,435
References
41
Citations by year
2026: 83 · 2025: 103 · 2024: 137 · 2023: 165 · 2022: 158 · 2021: 182 · 2020: 215 · 2019: 188 · 2018: 197 · 2017: 184 · 2016: 172 · 2015: 195 · 2014: 181 · 2013: 185 · 2012: 85
FWCI
154.13
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • Crohn's and Colitis Foundation
  • U.S. Public Health Service (K08A1085038)
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (T32HL007974)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (P30DK45735, R01-DK40936, R01DK040936, U24DK059635, R01DK076674, R24DK085638, P30DK045735)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Inflammasome and immune disorders
Keywords
non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, NLRP3 inflammasome, NLRP6 inflammasome, IL-18, gut dysbiosis, metabolic syndrome, obesity, hepatic steatosis, liver inflammation, TLR4, TLR9, TNF-α, Porphyromonadaceae, host-microbiota interactions, autoinflammatory disease
MeSH terms
NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein, Animals, Carrier Proteins, Choline, Colon, Cytoskeletal Proteins, Disease Models, Animal, Fatty Liver, Inflammation, Male, Methionine, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Obesity, Receptors, Cell Surface, RNA, Ribosomal, 16S, Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha, Disease Progression, Interleukin-18, Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins, Toll-Like Receptor 4, Toll-Like Receptor 9, Mice, CARD Signaling Adaptor Proteins, Metagenome, Inflammasomes, Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

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