Pregnane X receptor-mediated liver growth: a controlled clinical trial in healthy volunteers and identification of the role of AKT-MTOR pathway in mouse.

Lassila P, Karpale M, Kummu O, Stahl A, Käräjämäki A, Pääkkö E, Hammer HS, Braeuning A, Pötz O, Templin M, Hukkanen J, Hakkola J · 2026 · Archives of Toxicology · Atlas ID LASSILA2026

What this study shows

One week of rifampicin increased the liver volume-to-body-weight ratio by 2.7% in 16 healthy volunteers, and PXR activation enlarged the liver in male mice, accompanied by increased AKT-MTOR pathway activity, without YAP activation.

Abstract

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Pregnane X receptor (PXR) is a master xenobiotic nuclear receptor. Activation of PXR has been linked to liver growth in mice, usually via interaction with YAP, but this adaptive response had not been observed in humans. The authors investigated the effect of the human PXR agonist rifampicin on liver size in a controlled clinical trial in healthy volunteers. One-week rifampicin treatment caused a 2.7% mean increase in liver volume-to-body weight ratio without affecting liver fat content (n=16).

Read the full abstract on PubMed →

At a glance

Evidence type	H Human study Marked H because it is direct evidence from a human clinical trial or human cohort; the code names the kind of study, not its quality -- a small, well-run trial is still H.
Study type	2 - Human Clinical Trial
Model system	Human controlled clinical trial (n=16); mouse (PXR-humanised, PCN)
Journal	Archives of Toxicology
Year	2026
Peer reviewed	Yes
Record last updated	2026-10-01
Source	DOI 10.1007/s00204-026-04526-5 · PMID 42645403

Extracted findings

These fields were extracted from the paper with AI assistance and have not been checked against the source. Read them as a pointer into the paper, not as curated claims; where they disagree with the curated summary above, the curated summary stands.

Intervention	Rifampicin (human); pregnenolone-16α-carbonitrile (mouse)
Target	PXR; AKT-MTOR; YAP
Model	Human; mouse
Effect	2.7% increase in liver volume-to-body-weight ratio in humans; PXR-driven hepatomegaly and improved glucose tolerance in male mice via AKT-MTOR

In the Atlas

Cite this paper

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Lassila, P., Karpale, M., Kummu, O., Stahl, A., Käräjämäki, A., Pääkkö, E., Hammer, H. S., Braeuning, A., Pötz, O., Templin, M., Hukkanen, J., & Hakkola, J. (2026). Pregnane X receptor-mediated liver growth: a controlled clinical trial in healthy volunteers and identification of the role of AKT-MTOR pathway in mouse. Archives of Toxicology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00204-026-04526-5

@article{LASSILA2026,
  author       = {Lassila, P. and Karpale, M. and Kummu, O. and Stahl, A. and Käräjämäki, A. and Pääkkö, E. and Hammer, H. S. and Braeuning, A. and Pötz, O. and Templin, M. and Hukkanen, J. and Hakkola, J.},
  title        = {{Pregnane X receptor-mediated liver growth: a controlled clinical trial in healthy volunteers and identification of the role of AKT-MTOR pathway in mouse}},
  journal      = {Archives of Toxicology},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {10.1007/s00204-026-04526-5},
  note         = {PMID: 42645403},
}

Cite this Atlas record

The record is the Atlas's own work — the evidence label, the extracted findings and the links. It is cited as part of the dataset, not as the paper.

Barton, O. (2026). Oliver's mTOR Atlas (record LASSILA2026) [Data set]. https://mtor-atlas.org/study/LASSILA2026/ · Dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22059963

@misc{atlas_LASSILA2026,
  author       = {Barton, Oliver},
  title        = {{Oliver's mTOR Atlas}, record LASSILA2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://mtor-atlas.org/study/LASSILA2026/},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.22059963}
}

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