1. Academic Validation
  2. Identification of a nuclear receptor for bile acids

Identification of a nuclear receptor for bile acids

  • Science. 1999 May 21;284(5418):1362-5. doi: 10.1126/science.284.5418.1362.
M Makishima 1 A Y Okamoto J J Repa H Tu R M Learned A Luk M V Hull K D Lustig D J Mangelsdorf B Shan
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Pharmacology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75235-9050, USA.
Abstract

Bile acids are essential for the solubilization and transport of dietary lipids and are the major products of Cholesterol catabolism. Results presented here show that bile acids are physiological ligands for the farnesoid X receptor (FXR), an orphan nuclear receptor. When bound to bile acids, FXR repressed transcription of the gene encoding Cholesterol 7alpha-hydroxylase, which is the rate-limiting Enzyme in bile acid synthesis, and activated the gene encoding intestinal bile acid-binding protein, which is a candidate bile acid transporter. These results demonstrate a mechanism by which bile acids transcriptionally regulate their biosynthesis and enterohepatic transport.

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