Cited by 270Fibroblast Growth Factor ResearchAdipokines, Inflammation, and Metabolic DiseasesGDF15 and Related Biomarkers

Fibroblast Growth Factor 21—Metabolic Role in Mice and Men

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Staiger, Harald, Keuper, Michaela, Berti, Lucia, Hrabě de Angelis, Martin, Häring, Hans-Ulrich·2017·Endocrine Reviews

Abstract

Since its identification in 2000, the interest of scientists in the hepatokine fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 21 has tremendously grown, and still remains high, due to a wealth of very robust data documenting this factor's favorable effects on glucose and lipid metabolism in mice.For more than ten years now, intense in vivo and ex vivo experimentation addressed the physiological functions of FGF21 in humans as well as its pathophysiological role and pharmacological effects in human metabolic disease.This work produced a comprehensive collection of data revealing overlaps in FGF21 expression and function but also significant differences between mice and humans that have to be considered before translation from bench to bedside can be successful.This review summarizes what is known about FGF21 in mice and humans with a special focus on this factor's role in glucose and lipid metabolism and in metabolic diseases, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus.We highlight the discrepancies between mice and humans and try to decipher their underlying reasons.(Endocrine Reviews 38: 468 -488, 2017) W ith a prevalence of ~% in adults, type  diabetes mellitus (TD) is the most prominent metabolic disease worldwide (World Health Organization fact sheet on diabetes at http://www.who. int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs/en).The hallmark of the disease, that is, hyperglycemia, results from insulin resistance of liver, skeletal muscle, adipose tissue, and brain and a concomitant failure of pancreatic b-cells to compensate for this resistance by increased insulin secretion ().Current therapeutic options aim at reducing insulin resistance (metformin, thiazolidinediones), enhancing insulin secretion (sulfonylureas, meglitinides, dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitors, incretin mimetics), or excreting glucose via the urine (sodium/glucose cotransporter  inhibitors), but a progressive loss of b-cell function and mass is often observed ().Eventually, the ultima ratio to normalize blood glucose is the replacement of endogenous insulin by injection of human recombinant insulin or insulin analogs.New insights into the molecular pathomechanisms behind insulin resistance and b-cell failure point toward a crucial role for a well-balanced humoral crosstalk between metabolically relevant tissues (e.g., adipose, muscle, liver).Highly relevant players and promising targets for novel therapeutic strategies in this crosstalk were recently identified, among them fibroblast growth factor (FGF) (-).FGF is an endocrine factor secreted by liver acting as a metabolic regulator.Interest in the metabolic effects of FGF was aroused by the emergence of FGF as hit in an in vitro assay testing secreted proteins of unknown function for stimulation of glucose uptake in murine T-L adipocytes in an insulin-independent manner ().Based mainly on preclinical studies in mice showing improvements in glucose and lipid metabolism, FGF emerged as an interesting new candidate for TD treatment,

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Authors
Staiger, H., Keuper, M., Berti, L., Hrabě de Angelis, M., & Häring, H.-U.
Affiliations
  • Helmholtz Munich (DE)
  • Institute of Experimental Genetics, Helmholtz Center Munich, German Research Center for Environmental Health, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
Corresponding author
Staiger, Harald
Venue
Endocrine Reviews
Published
2017-07-28
Volume
38
Issue
5
Pages
468-488
ISSN
  • 0163-769X (ISSN-L)
  • 1945-7189
OpenAlex
W2741980484
Cited by
270
References
273
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 64 · 2020: 33 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 1
FWCI
2.13
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Endocrine Reviews (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • mediaTUM (Technical University of Munich) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Site cant be reached (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • PuSH - Publication Server of Helmholtz Zentrum München (submittedVersion)
Funders
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Fibroblast Growth Factor Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Adipokines, Inflammation, and Metabolic Diseases
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Rheumatology › GDF15 and Related Biomarkers
Keywords
FGF21, hepatokines, glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism, type 2 diabetes, obesity, insulin resistance, beta-cell dysfunction, metabolic disorders, translational research, therapeutic target, adipose tissue, liver, skeletal muscle, gut microbiota, gut-liver axis, gut-brain axis
MeSH terms
Adipose Tissue, Animals, Bone and Bones, Brain, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Fatty Liver, Fibroblast Growth Factors, Glucose, Humans, Metabolic Diseases, Nutritional Physiological Phenomena, Obesity, Signal Transduction, Exercise, Lipid Metabolism, Mice

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