title: PPARγ mediated enhanced lipid biogenesis fuels Mycobacterium tuberculosis growth in a drug-tolerant hepatocyte environment creator: Sarkar, Binayak creator: Singh, Jyotsna creator: Yadav, Mohit creator: Sharma, Priya creator: Sharma, Raman Deep creator: Singh, Shweta creator: Chandramouli, Aakash creator: Mehdiratta, Kritee creator: Kumar, Ashwani creator: Kamat, Siddhesh S creator: Ghorpade, Devram S creator: Mohanty, Debasisa creator: Kumar, Dhiraj creator: Gokhale, Rajesh S description: Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection of the lungs, besides producing prolonged cough with mucus, also causes progressive fatigue and cachexia with debilitating loss of muscle mass. While anti-tuberculosis (TB) drug therapy is directed toward eliminating bacilli, the treatment regimen ignores the systemic pathogenic derailments that probably dictate TB-associated mortality and morbidity. Presently, it is not understood whether Mtb spreads to metabolic organs and brings about these impairments. Here, we show that Mtb creates a replication-conducive milieu of lipid droplets in hepatocytes by upregulating transcription factor PPARγ and scavenging lipids from the host cells. In hepatocytes, Mtb shields itself against the common anti-TB drugs by inducing drug-metabolizing enzymes. Infection of the hepatocytes in the in vivo aerosol mice model can be consistently observed post-week, 4 along with enhanced expression of PPARγ and drug-metabolizing enzymes. Moreover, histopathological analysis indeed shows the presence of Mtb in hepatocytes along with granuloma-like structures in human biopsied liver sections. Hepatotropism of Mtb during the chronic infectious cycle results in immuno-metabolic dysregulation that could magnify local and systemic pathogenicity, altering clinical presentations. publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd date: 2025-12 type: Article type: NonPeerReviewed identifier: Sarkar, Binayak and Singh, Jyotsna and Yadav, Mohit and Sharma, Priya and Sharma, Raman Deep and Singh, Shweta and Chandramouli, Aakash and Mehdiratta, Kritee and Kumar, Ashwani and Kamat, Siddhesh S and Ghorpade, Devram S and Mohanty, Debasisa and Kumar, Dhiraj and Gokhale, Rajesh S (2025) PPARγ mediated enhanced lipid biogenesis fuels Mycobacterium tuberculosis growth in a drug-tolerant hepatocyte environment. Elife, 14 (RP1038). relation: http://crdd.osdd.net/open/3267/