Everton E, Del Rio-Moreno M, Villacorta-Martin C, Singh Bawa P, Lindstrom-Vautrin J, Muramatsu H, Rizvi F, Smith AR, Tam Y, Pardi N, Kineman R, Waxman DJ, Gouon-Evans V. Growth Hormone Accelerates Recovery From Acetaminophen-Induced Murine Liver Injury.
BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.04.17.537197. [PMID:
37131727 PMCID:
PMC10153200 DOI:
10.1101/2023.04.17.537197]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Background and Aims
Acetaminophen (APAP) overdose is the leading cause of acute liver failure, with one available treatment, N-acetyl cysteine (NAC). Yet, NAC effectiveness diminishes about ten hours after APAP overdose, urging for therapeutic alternatives. This study addresses this need by deciphering a mechanism of sexual dimorphism in APAP-induced liver injury, and leveraging it to accelerate liver recovery via growth hormone (GH) treatment. GH secretory patterns, pulsatile in males and near-continuous in females, determine the sex bias in many liver metabolic functions. Here, we aim to establish GH as a novel therapy to treat APAP hepatotoxicity.
Approach and Results
Our results demonstrate sex-dependent APAP toxicity, with females showing reduced liver cell death and faster recovery than males. Single-cell RNA sequencing analyses reveal that female hepatocytes have significantly greater levels of GH receptor expression and GH pathway activation compared to males. In harnessing this female-specific advantage, we demonstrate that a single injection of recombinant human GH protein accelerates liver recovery, promotes survival in males following sub-lethal dose of APAP, and is superior to standard-of-care NAC. Alternatively, slow-release delivery of human GH via the safe nonintegrative lipid nanoparticle-encapsulated nucleoside-modified mRNA (mRNA-LNP), a technology validated by widely used COVID-19 vaccines, rescues males from APAP-induced death that otherwise occurred in control mRNA-LNP-treated mice.
Conclusions
Our study demonstrates a sexually dimorphic liver repair advantage in females following APAP overdose, leveraged by establishing GH as an alternative treatment, delivered either as recombinant protein or mRNA-LNP, to potentially prevent liver failure and liver transplant in APAP-overdosed patients.
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