The constitutive androstane receptor protects against metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease through sex specific interactions with the gut microbiota

Abstract

Background: The gut-liver axis is involved in Metabolic dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD), but the host molecular actors involved in such dialogue have not yet been fully characterized. Objective: We investigated the sex-dependent role of the Constitutive Androstane Receptor (CAR) as a hepatic sensor of microbial signals in MASLD pathophysiology. Design: Male and female Car+/+ and Car-/- mice were fed a western diet (WD) for 4, 14 or 35 weeks. We performed plasma biochemistry, liver histology, bile acid and cholesterol quantification, untargeted multi-omics approach combining liver RNA-sequencing and 16S rRNA sequencing, together with co-housing, fecal microbiota transplantation and analysis of publicly available transcriptomics data in human cohorts. Results: Short-term WD revealed CAR-dependent protection against steatosis, together with perturbations in the transcriptional signatures of multiple transcription factors involved in hepatocyte identity in males. After 14 weeks, CAR deletion increased WD-induced liver damage, inflammation and fibrosis, and disrupted bile acid, cholesterol and gut microbiota homeostasis, in males only. Co-housing and fecal microbiota transplantations revealed that a Car+/+ gut microbiota protected against WD-induced liver damage, while a Car-/- microbiota was reshaped by a Car+/+ host. No CAR-dependent phenotype was observed in females. Finally, in human cohorts, hepatic CAR expression decreased in advanced clinical stages of MASLD. Conclusion: CAR is a sex-dependent protective nuclear receptor against MASLD progression, acting both as a transcriptional regulator of hepatocyte identity and as a mediator of the host-microbiota crosstalk.