Therapeutic Efficacy, Biomarker Signatures and Translatability of Semaglutide in the Liver Biopsy-Confirmed GAN DIO-MASH Mouse Model

Apr 13, 2026American journal of physiology. Gastrointestinal and liver physiology

Semaglutide’s treatment effects and biological markers in a mouse model of fatty liver disease confirmed by liver biopsy

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Abstract

Semaglutide treatment for 16 weeks or longer resulted in significant improvements in fibrosis histology in a mouse model of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH).

The GAN DIO-MASH mouse model exhibited clinical features of human MASH, including changes in circulating proteins.
Efficacy outcomes for hepatic steatosis and inflammation in the mouse model aligned closely with findings from clinical trials of semaglutide.
Longer treatment durations with semaglutide led to consistent improvements in quantitative measures of liver fibrosis.
The improvement in fibrosis stage with semaglutide was modest and showed little dependence on treatment duration.
The findings suggest the GAN DIO-MASH mouse model is a valuable tool for preclinical evaluations of drug candidates for MASH.

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Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists have emerged as promising therapeutic candidates for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). Importantly, semaglutide was recently approved as the first GLP-1 based treatment for people with MASH with moderate-to-severe fibrosis. Translational models that recapitulate human MASH are critical for guiding early-stage drug discovery, enabling rigorous efficacy evaluation and facilitating the progression of drug candidates into clinical development. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of semaglutide across an extensive series of experiments in the liver biopsy-confirmed GAN DIO-MASH mouse model, benchmarking outcomes against those from pivotal clinical trials of semaglutide in MASH. Treatment outcomes in the GAN DIO-MASH mouse closely mirrored clinical findings, particularly for hepatic steatosis and inflammation endpoints. Longer semaglutide treatment durations (≥16 weeks) led to pronounced and consistent improvements in quantitative fibrosis histology across studies. In comparison, the response rate for fibrosis stage improvement with semaglutide was modest and largely independent of treatment duration. Importantly, the GAN DIO-MASH mouse recapitulated many human MASH-associated changes in circulating proteins and semaglutide-responsive biomarkers. Collectively, these results support the therapeutic effects of semaglutide in MASH and underscore the reproducibility and clinical translatability of multiple disease-relevant features of the GAN DIO-MASH mouse model, highlighting its applicability as a robust platform for preclinical drug development.

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Therapeutic Efficacy, Biomarker Signatures and Translatability of Semaglutide in the Liver Biopsy-Confirmed GAN DIO-MASH Mouse Model

Abstract

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