Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus CU262 Attenuates High-Fat Diet–Induced Obesity via Gut–Liver Axis Reprogramming

TL;DR

This study shows that Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus CU262 reduces obesity and related health issues in mice by improving gut and liver function.

Contribution

The study reveals a novel mechanism by which a specific probiotic reprograms the gut–liver axis to combat obesity.

Findings

CU262 reduced weight gain, improved lipid profiles, and lowered inflammation in mice on a high-fat diet.

The probiotic increased beneficial gut bacteria and short-chain fatty acids, which correlated with improved metabolic health.

Liver gene expression changes indicated reduced cholesterol synthesis and enhanced metabolic pathways.

Abstract

Obesity is closely linked to dyslipidemia, hepatic injury, and chronic inflammation through disturbances in the gut–liver axis. Here, we evaluated the anti-obesity effects of L. rhamnosus (Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus) CU262 in a high-fat diet (HFD) mouse model and elucidated mechanisms using an integrated multi-omics strategy. Male C57BL/6 mice received CU262 during 12 weeks of HFD feeding. Phenotypes, serum/liver biochemistry, gut microbiota (16S rRNA sequencing), fecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), and hepatic transcriptomes (RNA-seq) were assessed. CU262 significantly attenuated weight gain and adiposity; improved serum TC, TG, LDL-C and HDL-C; lowered ALT/AST and FFA; and mitigated oxidative stress and inflammatory imbalance (↓ IL-6/TNF-α, ↑ IL-10). CU262 restored alpha diversity, reduced the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio, enriched beneficial taxa (e.g., Akkermansia), and increased acetate and butyrate. Liver transcriptomics showed CU262 reversed HFD-induced activation of cholesterol/steroid biosynthesis and endoplasmic reticulum stress, with downregulation of key genes (Mvk, Mvd, Fdps, Nsdhl, and Dhcr7) and Pcsk9, yielding negative enrichment of steroid and terpenoid backbone pathways and enhancement of oxidative phosphorylation and glutathione metabolism. Correlation analyses linked Akkermansia and SCFAs with improved lipid/inflammatory indices and repression of cholesterol-synthetic and stress-response genes. These findings demonstrate that CU262 alleviates HFD-induced metabolic derangements via microbiota-SCFA-hepatic gene network reprogramming along the gut–liver axis, supporting its potential as a functional probiotic for obesity management.

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