In zebrafish, turning off DHRS7 or the 5-oxoETE receptor increased gut inflammation with no added infection

What the research found

ScienceDaily published this account on 5 November 2026. The Nature paper it describes, DOI 10.1038/s41586-026-11121-2, is dated 7 October 2026. Yanan Ma, Miklos Lengyel, Philipp Niethammer, and colleagues at Memorial Sloan Kettering identified DHRS7 as the human gene for an enzyme that makes and breaks down 5-oxoETE, a signal mapped in 1992 whose gene had stayed unknown. Mice lack a known receptor for that signal, so the living-animal work used zebrafish. Turning off the zebrafish receptor gene hcar1-4, or turning off DHRS7, increased intestinal inflammation even when no infection was added. Removing neutrophils did not stop that inflammation. The group ties the protective side of the signal to NUDIX hydrolase enzymes that clear damaged DNA building blocks. The ScienceDaily account says mutations affecting DHRS7 and OXER1, the human form of the receptor, have been found in gastrointestinal and uterine tumors, and that OXER1 mutations have been linked with poorer outcomes in colorectal, pancreatic, and kidney cancers. Those notes are context from other work. This experiment did not enroll patients, and the account gives no animal count. Not medical advice.

Evidence level: Animal study. Results in animals or cells often don't carry over to people.

Read the original at ScienceDaily