RNA-sequencing in human HepG2 hepatocytes reveals PPARα mediates transcriptome responsiveness of bilirubin

Bilirubin is a potent antioxidant that reduces inflammation and the accumulation of fat. There have been reports of gene responses to bilirubin, which was mostly attributed to its antioxidant function. These RNA-sequencing studies investigated the impact biliverdin, which is rapidly reduced to bilirubin, has on transcriptome responses in human HepG2 hepatocytes in a PPARα-dependent fashion. This investigation reveals that transcriptome responses from the generation of bilirubin are mostly PPARα-dependent, and its antioxidant function regulates a smaller set of genes.