Insulin resistance and hepatic lipid accumulation constitute the metabolic underpinning of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). We tested the hypothesis that saroglitazar, a PPAR α/γ agonist would improve nASH in the diet-induced animal model of nAfLD. Mice received chow diet and normal water (CDNW) or high fat western diet and ad lib sugar water (WDSW). After 12 weeks, WDSW fed mice were randomized to receive (1) WDSW alone, (2) WDSW + vehicle, (3) WDSW + pioglitazone or (4) WDSW + saroglitazar for an additional 12 weeks. Compared to mice on WDSW and vehicle controls, mice receiving WDSW + saroglitazar had lower weight, lower HOMA-IR, triglycerides, total cholesterol, and ALT. Saroglitazar improved steatosis, lobular inflammation, hepatocellular ballooning and fibrosis stage. NASH resolved in all mice receiving saroglitazar. These effects were at par with or superior to pioglitazone. Molecular analyses confirmed target engagement and reduced oxidative stress, unfolded protein response and fibrogenic signaling. Transcriptomic analysis further confirmed increased PPARtarget expression and an anti-inflammatory effect with saroglitazar. Lipidomic analyses demonstrated that saroglitazar also reduced triglycerides, diglycerides, sphingomyelins and ceramides. These preclinical data provide a strong rationale for developing saroglitazar for the treatment of nASH in humans. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) encompasses a continuum of liver disease ranging from fatty liver (NAFL) to steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis and cirrhosis 1-3. This rising prevalence of NASH is accompanied with an alarming increase in the number of patients with cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) necessitating liver transplantation 4,5. Dynamic models of disease progression predict a doubling of the burden of end-stage liver disease from the NAFLD epidemic by 2030 if left unmanaged 6. Despite progress in understanding the clinical drivers of disease progression and pathogenesis of NAFLD and an exponential increase in clinical trials investigating the therapeutic potential and identifying therapeutic targets, there are immediate unmet medical needs and challenges and the disease still remains without any approved drugs 7,8. A key consideration in therapeutic development for NASH is the identification of a rational therapeutic target. NASH often develops in the context of excess adiposity and systemic insulin resistance 9. The current paradigm for the pathogenesis of NASH starts with increased delivery of lipids such as free fatty acids (FFA), carbohydrates along with inflammatory cytokines and gut-microbiome-derived products e.g. endotoxin 10 .

The nucleocytoplasmic shuttling transcription factor Nmp4/CIZ (nuclear matrix protein 4/cas interacting zinc finger protein) is a ubiquitously expressed protein that regulates both cytoplasmic and nuclear activities. In the nucleus, Nmp4/CIZ represses transcription of genes crucial to osteoblast differentiation and genes activated by various anabolic stimuli, including parathyroid hormone (PTH). We investigated the role of Nmp4/CIZ in the PTH-induced increase in bone by engineering mice with loss-of-function mutations in the Nmp4/CIZ gene, and treating 10-week-old female mice with anabolic doses of human PTH (1–34) at 30 μg/kg/day, 7 day/week, for 7 weeks or vehicle control. The untreated, baseline phenotype of the Nmp4-null mice between 8 and 16 weeks of age included a modest but significant increase in bone mineral density (BMD) and bone mineral content (BMC) compared to wild-type (WT) mice. Type I collagen mRNA expression was moderately elevated in the femurs of the Nmp4-null mice. The Nmp4 mutant alleles decreased body weight by 4% when expressed on a mixed background but the same alleles on a pure B6 background yielded a significant, 15% increase in body weight among the KO mice, compared to their WT controls. Hormone treatment equally enhanced BMD and BMC over vehicle-treated mice in both the WT and Nmp4-null groups but Nmp4-KO mice exhibited a significantly greater PTH-induced acquisition of femoral trabecular bone as compared to WT mice. These data support our hypothesis that Nmp4/CIZ is a transcriptional attenuator that suppresses osteoid synthesis and PTH-mediated acquisition of cancellous bone.

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How parathyroid hormone (PTH) increases bone mass is unclear but understanding this phenomenon is significant to the improvement of osteoporosis therapy. Nmp4/CIZ is a nucleocytoplasmic shuttling transcriptional repressor that suppresses PTH-induced osteoblast gene expression and hormone-stimulated gains in murine femoral trabecular bone. To further characterize Nmp4/CIZ suppression of hormone-mediated bone growth we treated 10 wk-old Nmp4-knockout (KO) and wild-type (WT) mice with intermittent human PTH (1-34) at 30μg/kg/day or vehicle, 7 days/wk, for 2, 3, or 7 wks. Null mice treated with hormone (7 wks) gained more vertebral and tibial cancellous bone than WT animals paralleling the exaggerated response in the femur. Interestingly, Nmp4/CIZ suppression of this hormone-stimulated bone formation was not apparent during the first 2 wks of treatment. Consistent with the null mice enhanced PTH-stimulated addition of trabecular bone these animals exhibited an augmented hormone-induced increase in serum osteocalcin 3 wks into treatment. Unexpectedly the Nmp4-KO mice displayed an osteoclast phenotype. Serum C-terminal telopeptides, a marker for bone resorption, was elevated in the null mice, irrespective of treatment. Nmp4-KO bone marrow cultures produced more osteoclasts, which exhibited an elevated resorbing activity, compared to WT cultures. The expression of several genes critical to the development of both osteoblasts and osteoclasts were elevated in Nmp4-KO mice at 2 wks but not 3 wks of hormone exposure. We propose that Nmp4/CIZ dampens PTH-induced improvement of trabecular bone throughout the skeleton by transiently suppressing hormone-stimulated increases in the expression of proteins key to the required enhanced activity/number of both osteoblasts and osteoclasts.