{"doi":"10.21037/hbsn.2019.09.07","title":"Probiotics VSL#3 are effective in reversing non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in a mouse model","abstract":"Background: Probiotic VSL#3 is used to treat ulcerative colitis. This study examines the effect of VSL#3 in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) that has liver carcinogenic potential. Methods: Western diet (WD)-fed wild-type (WT) mice that do not have hepatic inflammation with lymphocyte infiltration and carcinogenic potential were used for baseline comparison. Age-, sex-, and diet-matched bile acid (BA) receptor farnesoid X receptor (FXR) knockout (KO) mice, which developed severe NASH and had the potential for liver cancer development, were supplemented with and without VSL#3 for 7 months. All the mice were euthanized when they were 10 months old. Results: Supplementation with VSL#3 completely abolished hepatic lymphocyte infiltration, reduced hepatic fat content, and improved insulin sensitivity in WD-fed FXR KO mice. In addition, VSL#3 normalized dysregulated BA homoeostasis by inhibiting the classical BA synthesis pathway, inducing the alternative BA pathway, and activating ileal G-protein coupled BA receptor 1 (GPBAR1)-regulated signaling. Moreover, VSL#3 reconstructed the gut microbiota by reducing Bacteroidaceae, Porphyromonadaceae, and Helicobacteraceae as well as increasing Lachnospiraceae. Further, VSL#3 enriched the abundance of Ruminococcus and Faecalibacterium, which generate butyrate, at the genus level. It also increased the copy number of the butyrate-producing genes bcoA and buk, suggesting their anti-inflammatory and metabolic effects. Conclusions: VSL#3 is useful in reversing NASH that occurred due to dysregulated BA synthesis and dysbiosis, suggesting its potential in liver cancer prevention.","journal":"HepatoBiliary Surgery and Nutrition","year":2020,"id":60126,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":63,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9588,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2020-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":240158,"name":"Lili Sheng","orcid":"0000-0002-1142-6512","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":317150,"name":"Yongchun Li","orcid":"0000-0003-1761-3447","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":319061,"name":"Yui-Jui Yvonne Wan","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":302305,"name":"Prasant Kumar Jena","orcid":"0000-0002-6729-5881","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":66,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T21:08:47.852401Z","pmid":"32355675","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}