Inhibition of heme-thiolate monooxygenase CYP1B1 prevents hepatic stellate cell activation and liver fibrosis by accumulating trehalose

Sci Transl Med. 2024 Sep 25;16(766):eadk8446. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adk8446. Epub 2024 Sep 25.

Abstract

Activation of extracellular matrix-producing hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) is a key event in liver fibrogenesis. We showed that the expression of the heme-thiolate monooxygenase cytochrome P450 1B1 (CYP1B1) was elevated in human and mouse fibrotic livers and activated HSCs. Systemic or HSC-specific ablation and pharmacological inhibition of CYP1B1 attenuated HSC activation and protected male but not female mice from thioacetamide (TAA)-, carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-, or bile duct ligation (BDL)-induced liver fibrosis. Metabolomic analysis revealed an increase in the disaccharide trehalose in CYP1B1-deficient HSCs resulting from intestinal suppression of the trehalose-metabolizing enzyme trehalase, whose gene we found to be a target of RARα. Trehalose or its hydrolysis-resistant derivative lactotrehalose exhibited potent antifibrotic activity in vitro and in vivo by functioning as an HSC-specific autophagy inhibitor, which may account for the antifibrotic effect of CYP1B1 inhibition. Our study thus reveals an endobiotic function of CYP1B1 in liver fibrosis in males, mediated by liver-intestine cross-talk and trehalose. At the translational level, pharmacological inhibition of CYP1B1 or the use of trehalose/lactotrehalose may represent therapeutic strategies for liver fibrosis.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Autophagy / drug effects
  • Cytochrome P-450 CYP1B1* / metabolism
  • Female
  • Hepatic Stellate Cells* / drug effects
  • Hepatic Stellate Cells* / metabolism
  • Hepatic Stellate Cells* / pathology
  • Humans
  • Liver Cirrhosis* / metabolism
  • Liver Cirrhosis* / pathology
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Trehalose* / analogs & derivatives
  • Trehalose* / metabolism
  • Trehalose* / pharmacology
  • Trehalose* / therapeutic use

Substances

  • Cytochrome P-450 CYP1B1
  • Trehalose
  • CYP1B1 protein, human
  • Cyp1b1 protein, mouse