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Braadland PR, Schneider KM, Bergquist A, Molinaro A, Lövgren-Sandblom A, Henricsson M, Karlsen TH, Vesterhus M, Trautwein C, Hov JR, Marschall HU. Suppression of bile acid synthesis as a tipping point in the disease course of primary sclerosing cholangitis. JHEP Rep 2022; 4:100561. [PMID: 36176935 PMCID: PMC9513776 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhepr.2022.100561] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2022] [Revised: 07/08/2022] [Accepted: 08/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Background & Aims Farnesoid X receptor (FXR) agonists and fibroblast growth factor 19 (FGF19) analogues suppress bile acid synthesis and are being investigated for their potential therapeutic efficacy in cholestatic liver diseases. We investigated whether bile acid synthesis associated with outcomes in 2 independent populations of people with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) not receiving such therapy. Methods Concentrations of individual bile acids and 7α-hydroxy-4-cholesten-3-one (C4) were measured in blood samples from 330 patients with PSC attending tertiary care hospitals in the discovery and validation cohorts and from 100 healthy donors. We used a predefined multivariable Cox proportional hazards model to evaluate the prognostic value of C4 to predict liver transplantation-free survival and evaluated its performance in the validation cohort. Results The bile acid synthesis marker C4 was negatively associated with total bile acids. Patients with fully suppressed bile acid synthesis had strongly elevated total bile acids and short liver transplantation-free survival. In multivariable models, a 50% reduction in C4 corresponded to increased hazards for liver transplantation or death in both the discovery (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.24, 95% CI 1.06–1.43) and validation (adjusted HR = 1.23, 95% CI 1.03–1.47) cohorts. Adding C4 to established risk scores added value to predict future events, and predicted survival probabilities were well calibrated externally. There was no discernible impact of ursodeoxycholic acid treatment on bile acid synthesis. Conclusions Bile acid accumulation-associated suppression of bile acid synthesis was apparent in patients with advanced PSC and associated with reduced transplantation-free survival. In a subset of the patients, bile acid synthesis was likely suppressed beyond a tipping point at which any further pharmacological suppression may be futile. Implications for patient stratification and inclusion criteria for clinical trials in PSC warrant further investigation. Lay summary We show, by measuring the level of the metabolite C4 in the blood from patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), that low production of bile acids in the liver predicts a more rapid progression to severe disease. Many people with PSC appear to have fully suppressed bile acid production, and both established and new drugs that aim to reduce bile acid production may therefore be futile for them. We propose C4 as a test to find those likely to respond to these treatments. The bile acid synthesis marker C4 associated negatively with bile acid levels in patients with PSC. Suppression of bile acid synthesis was likely nearly complete in advanced PSC. UDCA treatment contributed significantly to total circulating bile acids but did not appear to affect bile acid synthesis. Attempts to inhibit bile acid synthesis in patients with low C4 may be futile, and such drugs may be contraindicated. Patients with PSC and low circulating C4 had shorter liver transplantation-free survival in two independent cohorts.
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Key Words
- 7α-Hydroxy-4-cholesten-3-one
- AOM, Amsterdam–Oxford model
- ASBT, apical sodium-dependent bile acid cotransporter
- Biliary disease
- C4
- C4, 7α-hydroxy-4-cholesten-3-one
- CYP7A1, cytochrome P450 family 7 subfamily A member 1
- Cholestasis
- Cholestatic liver disease
- FGF19, fibroblast growth factor 19
- FXR, farnesoid X receptor
- GUDCA, glycooursodeoxycholic acid
- HR, hazard ratio
- IBAT, ileal bile acid transporter
- Liver transplantation
- Liver transplantation-free survival
- MELD, model for end-stage liver disease
- PBC, primary biliary cholangitis
- PSC, primary sclerosing cholangitis
- STROBE, Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology
- TUDCA, tauroursodeoxycholic acid
- UDCA, ursodeoxycholic acid
- UPLC-MS/MS, ultraperformance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry
- Ursodeoxycholic acid
- c-index, concordance index
- liver
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Affiliation(s)
- Peder Rustøen Braadland
- Norwegian PSC Research Center, Department of Transplantation Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.,Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.,Research Institute of Internal Medicine, Division of Surgery, Inflammatory Diseases and Transplantation, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Kai Markus Schneider
- Department of Medicine III, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.,Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Annika Bergquist
- Unit of Gastroenterology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine Huddinge, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Antonio Molinaro
- Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine/Wallenberg Laboratory, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.,Department of Medicine, Section of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | | | - Marcus Henricsson
- Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine/Wallenberg Laboratory, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Tom Hemming Karlsen
- Norwegian PSC Research Center, Department of Transplantation Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.,Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.,Research Institute of Internal Medicine, Division of Surgery, Inflammatory Diseases and Transplantation, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.,Section of Gastroenterology, Department of Transplantation Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Mette Vesterhus
- Norwegian PSC Research Center, Department of Transplantation Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.,Department of Medicine, Haraldsplass Deaconess Hospital and Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Christian Trautwein
- Department of Medicine III, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany
| | - Johannes Roksund Hov
- Norwegian PSC Research Center, Department of Transplantation Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.,Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.,Research Institute of Internal Medicine, Division of Surgery, Inflammatory Diseases and Transplantation, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.,Section of Gastroenterology, Department of Transplantation Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Hanns-Ulrich Marschall
- Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine/Wallenberg Laboratory, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.,Department of Medicine, Section of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
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