Outi Kummu
Studies how chemicals activate the nuclear receptor PXR and disturb metabolism; co-author of the study linking PXR-driven liver growth to the AKT-mTOR pathway.
Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu
Research Unit of Biomedicine and Internal Medicine, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu (Oulu, Finland) ↗ ORCID0000-0003-0327-3496 ↗
Portrait: University of Oulu
Outi Kummu is a senior research fellow at the University of Oulu in Finland, in pharmacology and toxicology. Her page describes work on chemical exposure and the activation of nuclear receptors, especially the pregnane X receptor (PXR), and how this can disturb metabolism.
PXR is a sensor for foreign chemicals and drugs in the liver. In the 2026 Archives of Toxicology study in the Atlas, the Oulu team tested the drug rifampicin, a human PXR activator, in 16 healthy volunteers. After one week, the liver volume relative to body weight rose by about 2.7 percent.
In male mice, PXR activation made the liver grow and raised AKT-mTOR activity, without the YAP activation seen in earlier work. Kummu is the third author; the senior author is Jukka Hakkola.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | H | Pregnane X receptor-mediated liver growth: a controlled clinical trial in healthy volunteers and identification of the role of AKT-MTOR pathway in mouse. LASSILA2026 Co-author of the controlled trial and mouse study showing that PXR activation enlarged the liver and activated the AKT-mTOR pathway in male mice. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 2
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Outi Kummu.
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- Jukka Hakkola Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Oulu who studies the pregnane X receptor (PXR), a liver sensor of drugs and foreign chemicals, and how it changes liver growth and metabolism
- Piia Lassila Researcher in Jukka Hakkola's pharmacology group at the University of Oulu who led a clinical and mouse study showing that activating the drug sensor PXR makes the liver grow
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