{Reference Type}: Journal Article
{Title}: Amplifying hepatic L-aspartate levels suppresses CCl4-induced liver fibrosis by reversing glucocorticoid receptor β-mediated mitochondrial malfunction.
{Author}: Su R;Fu HL;Zhang QX;Wu CY;Yang GY;Wu JJ;Cao WJ;Liu J;Jiang ZP;Xu CJ;Rao Y;Huang L;
{Journal}: Pharmacol Res
{Volume}: 206
{Issue}: 0
{Year}: 2024 Aug 9
{Factor}: 10.334
{DOI}: 10.1016/j.phrs.2024.107294
{Abstract}: Liver fibrosis is a determinant-stage process of many chronic liver diseases and affected over 7.9 billion populations worldwide with increasing demands of ideal therapeutic agents. Discovery of active molecules with anti-hepatic fibrosis efficacies presents the most attacking filed. Here, we revealed that hepatic L-aspartate levels were decreased in CCl4-induced fibrotic mice. Instead, supplementation of L-aspartate orally alleviated typical manifestations of liver injury and fibrosis. These therapeutic efficacies were alongside improvements of mitochondrial adaptive oxidation. Notably, treatment with L-aspartate rebalanced hepatic cholesterol-steroid metabolism and reduced the levels of liver-impairing metabolites, including corticosterone (CORT). Mechanistically, L-aspartate treatment efficiently reversed CORT-mediated glucocorticoid receptor β (GRβ) signaling activation and subsequent transcriptional suppression of the mitochondrial genome by directly binding to the mitochondrial genome. Knockout of GRβ ameliorated corticosterone-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction and hepatocyte damage which also weakened the improvements of L-aspartate in suppressing GRβ signaling. These data suggest that L-aspartate ameliorates hepatic fibrosis by suppressing GRβ signaling via rebalancing cholesterol-steroid metabolism, would be an ideal candidate for clinical liver fibrosis treatment.