A Pleiotropic Role for the Orphan Nuclear Receptor Small Heterodimer Partner in Lipid Homeostasis and Metabolic Pathways

Figure 3

The potential molecular mechanisms of crosstalk between nuclear receptors LXR and FXR–SHP–LRH-1 regulatory cascade in the liver and intestine. Bile acids act as ligands for FXR, which regulates transcription by binding as a heterodimer with RXRs. This step results in increased SHP expression. SHP in turn inhibits LRH-1, preventing the activation of target genes that participate in bile acid and fatty acid synthesis. In the absence of bile acids, LRH-1 acts together with LXR to stimulate bile acid synthesis [64, 65, 132]. The important pathways in the intestine that contribute to modulation of bile acid synthesis are also depicted (see text for details). There is a bile-acid-mediated activation of intestinal FXR and, as a result, the release of FGF15 in the small intestine. The secreted FGF15 by the intestine circulates to the liver, likely through the portal circulation or lymph flow [81] and induces the activation of FGFR4 in the liver. The FGF15/FGFR4 pathway synergizes with SHP in vivo to repress CYP7A1 expression [57]. Bas: bile acids; FGF: fibroblast growth factor; FGFR4: FGF receptor; FXR: farnesoid X receptor; LRH-1: liver receptor homologue-1; LXR: liver X receptor; RXR: retinoid X receptors; SHP: short heterodimer partner. Adapted from Ory [66] and Inagaki et al. [57].