Reply

We agree with the commentary by Drs Chignard and Poupon, particularly with respect to the point that FXR activation suppresses inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA level induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) probably in an nuclear factor (NF)-κB–independent manner. LPS activates not only NF-κB, but also other transcriptional factors, such as AP-1. iNOS is a target gene of both NF-κB and AP-1, so it is possible that FXR activation may suppress iNOS expression induced by LPS in an AP-1 dependent manner.