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A Common Polymorphism in the Bile Acid Receptor Farnesoid X Receptor Is Associated with Decreased Hepatic Target Gene Expression

Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine (C.M., B.F.L.) and Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine (W.L.), Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee 37232; Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine (R.G.T., R.B.K.) and Department of Physiology and Pharmacology (R.G.T., R.B.K.), The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5A5; Department of Pharmacology and Psychiatry (G.G.), Medical School, University of Extremadura, 06071 Badajoz, Spain; and Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences (B.P., M.A., J.D.S., E.G.S.), St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38105

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. Richard B. Kim, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine, The University of Western Ontario, 339 Windermere Road, Room ALL-152, London Health Sciences Centre, University Hospital, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5A5. E-mail: richard.kim{at}lhsc.on.ca.

The farnesoid X receptor (FXR or NR1H4) is an important bile-acid-activated, transcriptional regulator of genes involved in bile acid, lipid, and glucose homeostasis. Accordingly, interindividual variations in FXR expression and function could manifest as variable susceptibility to conditions such as cholesterol gallstone disease, atherosclerosis, and diabetes. We performed an FXR polymorphism discovery analysis of European-, African-, Chinese-, and Hispanic-Americans and identified two rare gain-of-function variants and a common single nucleotide polymorphism resulting in a G-1T substitution in the nucleotide adjacent to the translation initiation site (FXR*1B) with population allelic frequencies ranging from 2.5 to 12%. In cell-based transactivation assays, FXR*1B (-1T) activity was reduced compared with FXR*1A (-1G). This reduced activity for FXR*1B resulted from neither decreased translational efficiency nor the potential formation of a truncated translational variant. To further define the relevance of this polymorphism, gene expression was examined in a human liver bank to reveal that levels of the FXR target genes small heterodimer partner and organic anion transporting polypeptide 1B3 were significantly reduced in livers harboring an FXR*1B allele. These findings are the first to identify the presence of a common genetic variant in FXR with functional consequences that could contribute to disease risk or therapeutic outcomes.

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Nuclear Receptors:   SHP  |  FXRα

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