# Novel mechanisms of aging-associated hyper-susceptibility to hepatotoxicity and liver injury

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA HLTH SCIENCES CTR · 2021 · $186,338

## Abstract

Project Summary
The steady increase of human lifespan has led to a dramatic increase in the elderly population. There is
unequivocal evidence from humans and animal models that the aging process predisposes to hepatic
functional impairment, resulting in significantly increased susceptibility to acute and chronic liver injury. For an
example, acetaminophen remains the first-line drug widely used to manage mild to moderate pain in the elderly
population. Accidental acetaminophen hepatotoxicity, the most common drug-induced liver injury (DILI),
accounts for ~15% of all DILI in the general population but ~55% of all DILI in the elderly population.
Furthermore, accidental acetaminophen hepatotoxicity in the elderly generally shows poor outcome. Currently,
aging-associated liver pathophysiology contributing to hypersensitivity and poor prognosis of drug-induced
hepatotoxicity is still not well understood. Bile acid signaling play important roles in regulating liver metabolic
homeostasis. Hepatic bile acid signaling is known to be significantly impaired in aging, but its implication in
aging-associated liver impairment is still not clear. The goal of this study is to investigate a novel mechanism
by which impaired bile acid signaling disrupted hepatic cysteine, glutathione (GSH) and coenzyme A (CoA)
homeostasis, which renders the liver more susceptible to external insults in aging. The amino acid cysteine
supports hepatic synthesis of GSH and CoA. GSH plays a critical role in detoxification of drugs and
environmental toxins, and its hepatic and plasma concentration decreases significantly with age. CoA is a key
cofactor required to support hepatic catabolic metabolism. CoA sequestration and depletion by drugs and their
metabolites has been linked to mitochondrial impairment and liver injury. This project is developed based on
our discovery that under normal physiology bile acids exert a strong repression on the cysteine dioxygenase
type-1 (CDO1) - mediated cysteine elimination pathway, which is important in maintaining hepatic free cysteine
pool. Impaired bile acid signaling such as in aging results in markedly increased liver CDO1 expression and a
hepatic cysteine, GSH and CoA deficient state, which renders the liver more vulnerable to oxidative and
metabolic stress-induced injury. Three specific aims are proposed to investigate the significance of the bile
acid-CDO1-csyteine axis in modulating acetaminophen-induced liver injury in young adult and aged mice. This
study will employ state-of-the-art models and techniques including AAV8-mediated CDO1 gene delivery,
targeted metabolic profiling, tracer-mediated metabolic flux, and Seahorse Flux Analyzer measurement of
mitochondrial function to interrogate how CDO1-mediated cysteine metabolic flux modulates hepatic redox
homeostasis, organelle function and sensitivity to injury.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10129876
- **Project number:** 5R21AG065720-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA HLTH SCIENCES CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** Tiangang Li
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $186,338
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2023-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10129876

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10129876, Novel mechanisms of aging-associated hyper-susceptibility to hepatotoxicity and liver injury (5R21AG065720-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10129876. Licensed CC0.

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