Ursodeoxycholic acid inhibits liver X receptor α-mediated hepatic lipogenesis via induction of the nuclear corepressor SMILE.

Small heterodimer partner interacting leucine zipper protein (SMILE) has been identified as a nuclear corepressor of the nuclear receptor (NRs) family. Here, we examined the role of SMILE in the regulation of nuclear receptor liver X receptor (LXR)-mediated sterol regulatory element binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c) gene expression. We found that SMILE inhibited T0901317 (T7)-induced transcriptional activity of LXR, which functions as a major regulator of lipid metabolism by inducing SREBP-1c, fatty acid synthase (FAS), and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) gene expression. Moreover, we demonstrated that SMILE physically interacts with LXR and represses T7-induced LXR transcriptional activity by competing with coactivator SRC-1. Adenoviral overexpression of SMILE (Ad-SMILE) attenuated fat accumulation and lipogenic gene induction in the liver of T7 administered or of high fat diet (HFD)-fed mice. Furthermore, we investigated the mechanism by which ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) inhibits LXR-induced lipogenic gene expression. Interestingly, UDCA treatment significantly increased SMILE promoter activity and gene expression in an adenosine monophosphate-activated kinase-dependent manner. Furthermore, UDCA treatment repressed T7-induced SREBP-1c, FAS, and ACC protein levels, whereas knockdown of endogenous SMILE gene expression by adenovirus SMILE shRNA (Ad-shSMILE) significantly reversed UDCA-mediated repression of SREBP-1c, FAS, and ACC protein levels. Collectively, these results demonstrate that UDCA activates SMILE gene expression through adenosine monophosphate-activated kinase phosphorylation, which leads to repression of LXR-mediated hepatic lipogenic enzyme gene expression.