NR0B2 regulation during Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis defines a metabolic and pre-malignant reprogramming of Cholangiocyte

Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) is an idiopathic, cholestatic liver disease that is characterized by persistent, progressive, biliary inflammation leading to cirrhosis. These patients present higher risk for developing bile duct cancers. Biomedical text-mining related to PSC symptoms like: biliary inflammation, biliary fibrosis, biliary cholestasis was initiated to collect gene associations with this pathophysiology. The text mining work was integrated in distinct omics data such as human transcriptome of PSC liver, Farnesoid X receptor (FXR) functional liver transcriptome and liver single cell transcriptome of the Abcb4-/- model of PSC. A molecular network implicated in abnormal hepatobiliary system physiology was built and confirming a major implication of Nr0b2 and its associated nuclear receptors like FXR in a metabolic cascade that could influence immune response. TNFRSF12A/TWEAK receptor, was found up regulated in PSC liver independently of FXR regulation and TWEAK signaling is known for its implication in pre-conditioning niche of cholangiocarcinoma. NR0B2 deregulation in PSC liver was found independent of gender, age and body mass index surrogates. At single cell level, Nr0b2 up regulation was found in cholangiocytes but not in hepatocytes. In affected cholangiocytes, the cell trajectory built on Nr0b2 expression, revealed implication of several metabolic pathways for detoxification like sulfur, glutathione derivative and monocarboxylic acid metabolisms. On this cell trajectory it was discovered some molecules potentially implicated in carcinogenesis like: GSTA3, ID2 and mainly TMEM45A a transmembrane molecule from golgi apparatus considered as oncogene in several cancers. All together, these observations found in humanPSC liver and in its murine models allowed to highlight an independent deregulation of NR0B2 with a metabolic and premalignant reprogramming of cholangiocytes.