# Aberrant miR-378 expression promotes hepatic lipid accumulation via hijacking the bile acid-regulated autophagy

## TL;DR

This study shows that abnormal miR-378 expression disrupts liver autophagy, leading to fat buildup in the liver under certain metabolic conditions.

## Contribution

The study reveals bile acids as novel regulators of hepatic autophagy and identifies miR-378's dual role in autophagy regulation.

## Key findings

- Bile acids inhibit hepatic autophagy during prolonged fasting and MASLD.
- miR-378 suppresses autophagy via the BA/FXR/ACOX1/acetyl-CoA axis in metabolic dysfunction.
- Pharmacological FXR inhibition improves autophagy and reduces liver steatosis in mice.

## Abstract

Dysregulated autophagy contributes to liver steatosis, yet its regulation under distinct metabolic contexts remains poorly defined. Here, we identify bile acids (BAs) as critical modulators of hepatic autophagy. Circulating BA levels are elevated in human subjects with liver steatosis and independently associated with increased hepatic steatosis risk. High-fat diet (HFD) feeding increases circulating BA levels, while simultaneously reducing hepatic autophagic flux in mice, whereas pharmacological inhibition of farnesoid X receptor (FXR) enhances autophagy and alleviates steatosis in the livers of HFD-fed mice. Mechanistically, circulating BAs promote hepatic acetyl-CoA production through FXR-induced acyl-CoA oxidase 1 (ACOX1), which in turn suppresses autophagy by increasing the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling. Similar to HFD feeding, prolonged fasting elevates BA levels and hepatic lipid accumulation, while concurrently upregulating hepatic miR-378, a positive regulator of BA synthesis. Although miR-378 exerts a cell-autonomous pro-autophagic effect during short-term fasting, it paradoxically drives lipid accumulation by suppressing hepatic autophagy via BA/FXR/ACOX1/acetyl-CoA axis in a non-cell-autonomous manner during either HFD feeding or prolonged fasting when BA action becomes considerable. Together, our study uncovers BAs as a previously unrecognized class of inhibitors of hepatic autophagy during prolonged fasting and in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), providing novel insights into context-dependent autophagic regulation of hepatic lipid metabolism and potential therapeutic strategies for MASLD.