TY - JOUR
T1 - Pregnancy and weaning regulate human maternal liver size and function
AU - Bartlett, Alexandra Q.
AU - Vesco, Kimberly K.
AU - Purnell, Jonathan Q.
AU - Francisco, Melanie
AU - Goddard, Erica
AU - Guan, Xiangnan
AU - DeBarber, Andrea
AU - Leo, Michael C.
AU - Baetscher, Eric
AU - Rooney, William
AU - Naugler, Willscott
AU - Guimaraes, Alexander R.
AU - Catalano, Patrick
AU - Xia, Zheng
AU - Schedin, Pepper
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/11/30
Y1 - 2021/11/30
N2 - During pregnancy, the rodent liver undergoes hepatocyte proliferation and increases in size, followed by weaning-induced involution via hepatocyte cell death and stromal remodeling, creating a prometastatic niche. These data suggest a mechanism for increased liver metastasis in breast cancer patients with recent childbirth. It is unknown whether the human liver changes in size and function during pregnancy and weaning. In this study, abdominal imaging was obtained in healthy women at early and late pregnancy and postwean. During pregnancy time points, glucose production and utilization and circulating bile acids were measured. Independently of weight gain, most women's livers increased in size with pregnancy, then returned to baseline postwean. Putative roles for bile acids in liver growth and regression were observed. Together, the data support the hypothesis that the human liver is regulated by reproductive state with growth during pregnancy and volume loss postwean. These findings have implications for sex-specific liver diseases and for breast cancer outcomes.
AB - During pregnancy, the rodent liver undergoes hepatocyte proliferation and increases in size, followed by weaning-induced involution via hepatocyte cell death and stromal remodeling, creating a prometastatic niche. These data suggest a mechanism for increased liver metastasis in breast cancer patients with recent childbirth. It is unknown whether the human liver changes in size and function during pregnancy and weaning. In this study, abdominal imaging was obtained in healthy women at early and late pregnancy and postwean. During pregnancy time points, glucose production and utilization and circulating bile acids were measured. Independently of weight gain, most women's livers increased in size with pregnancy, then returned to baseline postwean. Putative roles for bile acids in liver growth and regression were observed. Together, the data support the hypothesis that the human liver is regulated by reproductive state with growth during pregnancy and volume loss postwean. These findings have implications for sex-specific liver diseases and for breast cancer outcomes.
KW - Bile acids
KW - Liver
KW - Maternal health
KW - Pregnancy
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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.2107269118
DO - 10.1073/pnas.2107269118
M3 - Article
C2 - 34815335
AN - SCOPUS:85120321380
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 118
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 48
M1 - e2107269118
ER -