Role of farnesoid X receptor and bile acids in alcoholic liver disease

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is one of the major causes of liver morbidity and mortality worldwide, Chronic alcohol consumption leads to development of fiver pathogenesis encompassing steatosis, inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis, and in extreme cases, hepatocellular carcinoma Moreover. ALD may also associate with cholestasis. Emerging evidence now suggests that farnesoid X receptor (FXR) and bile acids also play important roles in ALD. In this review, we discuss the effects of alcohol consumption on.FxR, bile acids and gut microbiome as well as their impacts on ALD. Moreover, we summarize the findings on FXR, FoxO3a (fork-head box-containing protein class O3a) and PPAR alpha (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha) in regulation of autophagy-related gene transcription program and fiver injury in response to alcohol exposure. (C) 2015 Chinese Pharmaceutical Association and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.