Publication in Hepatology Communications
Microbially conjugated bile salts found in human bile activate the bile salt receptors TGR5 and FXR
Bile salts are an important means of communication in the organ crosstalk between gut and liver. PhD student Ümran Ay, Frank Schaap, Steven Olde Damink (all project A07 of this CRC) and colleagues could show that the newly discovered class of microbial bile salt conjugates (MBSCs) activate the cell surface receptor TGR5 and the transcription factor FXR and are substrates for intestinal and hepatic transporters, whereas their entry into the human systemic and enterohepatic circulation is nonsubstantial. Thus the studied MBSCs are unlikely to have impact on enterohepatic TGR5/FXR signaling in humans.