Cui WT, Xue HR, Wei DF, Feng XY, Wang K. Prospects of elafibranor in treating alcohol-associated liver diseases. World J Gastroenterol 2025; 31(2): 99549 [DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i2.99549]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Wei-Tong Cui, MD, Professor, School of Basic Medicine, Qilu Medical University, No. 1678 West Renmin Road, Zibo 255300, Shandong Province, China. klnr727@qlmu.edu.cn
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Letter to the Editor
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 14, 2025; 31(2): 99549 Published online Jan 14, 2025. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i2.99549
Prospects of elafibranor in treating alcohol-associated liver diseases
Wei-Tong Cui, Hua-Ru Xue, Dian-Fang Wei, Xiao-Yu Feng, Kai Wang
Wei-Tong Cui, Dian-Fang Wei, Xiao-Yu Feng, Kai Wang, School of Basic Medicine, Qilu Medical University, Zibo 255300, Shandong Province, China
Hua-Ru Xue, School of Medical Imaging, Qilu Medical University, Zibo 255300, Shandong Province, China
Co-first authors: Wei-Tong Cui and Hua-Ru Xue.
Author contributions: Cui WT designed the research study; Xue HR and Wang K contributed to the search and analysis of the literatures; Cui WT and Xue HR drafted the manuscript, they contributed equally to this manuscript and as co-first authors; Wei DF and Feng XY helped in reviewing and editing of the manuscript; and all the authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China, No. ZR2019PC053; and the Projects of Medical and Health Technology Development Program in Shandong Province, China, No. 202202020837 and No. 202301040472.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Wei-Tong Cui, MD, Professor, School of Basic Medicine, Qilu Medical University, No. 1678 West Renmin Road, Zibo 255300, Shandong Province, China. klnr727@qlmu.edu.cn
Received: July 24, 2024 Revised: October 8, 2024 Accepted: November 25, 2024 Published online: January 14, 2025 Processing time: 146 Days and 14 Hours
Abstract
Alcohol-related liver disease (ALD), which is induced by excessive alcohol consumption, is a leading cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality. ALD patients exhibit a spectrum of liver injuries, including hepatic steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis, similar to symptoms of nonalcohol-associated liver diseases such as primary biliary cholangitis, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Elafibranor has been approved for the treatment of primary biliary cholangitis and has been shown to improve symptoms in both animal models and in vitro cell models of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. However, the efficacy of elafibranor in treating ALD remains unclear. In this article, we comment on the recent publication by Koizumi et al that evaluated the effects of elafibranor on liver fibrosis and gut barrier function in an ALD mouse model. Their findings indicate the potential of elafibranor for ALD treatment, but further experimental investigations and clinical trials are warranted.
Core Tip: Elafibranor is an oral dual peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α/δ agonist that has demonstrated efficacy in improving hepatic steatosis and inhibiting inflammation and fibrosis associated with nonalcoholic liver diseases. Alcohol-related liver disease (ALD), resulting from excessive alcohol consumption, also presents symptoms such as hepatic steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis. However, the effectiveness of elafibranor in treating ALD remains unclear. A recent study by Koizumi et al revealed that elafibranor significantly reduced hepatic steatosis, apoptosis, and fibrosis in a mouse model of ALD. Despite the potential of elafibranor for ALD treatment appears promising, further experimental investigations and clinical trials are warranted.
