Cao Y, Shu XB, Yao Z, Ji G, Zhang L. Is vitamin D receptor a druggable target for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis? World J Gastroenterol 2020; 26(38): 5812-5821 [PMID: 33132636 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v26.i38.5812]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Li Zhang, MD, PhD, Senior Scientist, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Longhua Hospital, China-Canada Center of Research for Digestive Diseases, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 725 South Wanping Road, Shanghai 200032, China. zhangli.hl@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 14, 2020; 26(38): 5812-5821 Published online Oct 14, 2020. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v26.i38.5812
Is vitamin D receptor a druggable target for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis?
Ying Cao, Xiang-Bing Shu, Zemin Yao, Guang Ji, Li Zhang
Ying Cao, Xiang-Bing Shu, Guang Ji, Li Zhang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Longhua Hospital, China-Canada Center of Research for Digestive Diseases, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200032, China
Xiang-Bing Shu, Department of Geratology, Baoshan Branch of Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201999, China
Zemin Yao, Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa K1H8M5, Ontario, Canada
Author contributions: Zhang L and Ji G contributed to the conceptualization; Cao Y, Shu XB and Zhang L contributed to the original draft preparation; Yao Z contributed to the review and editing; Cao Y and Shu XB contribute equally to this work.
Supported bythe National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81774084 and 81804020; and Young Talent Promotion Project of Chinese Medicine Association, No. 2019-QNRC2-C04.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Li Zhang, MD, PhD, Senior Scientist, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Longhua Hospital, China-Canada Center of Research for Digestive Diseases, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 725 South Wanping Road, Shanghai 200032, China. zhangli.hl@163.com
Received: August 7, 2020 Peer-review started: August 7, 2020 First decision: August 22, 2020 Revised: August 28, 2020 Accepted: September 8, 2020 Article in press: September 8, 2020 Published online: October 14, 2020 Processing time: 68 Days and 9.4 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Vitamin D receptor (VDR) is a nuclear receptor and proposed as a druggable target for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) due to the discovery of vitamin D deficiency in NASH patients. However, vitamin D supplementation has not consistently conferred expected therapeutic benefits. Actually, VDR can interact with other ligands such as bile acids in addition to vitamin D, and its expression can be induced by fatty acids, and insulin. Liver is an heterogenous organ, and VDR activation in hepatic macrophages and hepatic stellate cells results in attenuation of hepatic inflammation and fibrosis, whereas activation of VDR in hepatocytes can accelerate lipid accumulation. Thus, the multiplicity of VDR ligands, together with the cell type-specificity of VDR activation, must be taken into consideration in assessing the validity of VDR being a potential druggable target for NASH treatment.
