Cited by 42Adipose Tissue and MetabolismAdipokines, Inflammation, and Metabolic DiseasesTGF-β signaling in diseases

Novel Roles of Follistatin/Myostatin in Transforming Growth Factor-β Signaling and Adipose Browning: Potential for Therapeutic Intervention in Obesity Related Metabolic Disorders

Open access
Pervin, Shehla, Reddy, Srinivasa T., Singh, Rajan·2021·Frontiers in Endocrinology

Abstract

Obesity is a global health problem and a major risk factor for several metabolic conditions including dyslipidemia, diabetes, insulin resistance and cardiovascular diseases. Obesity develops from chronic imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. Stimulation of cellular energy burning process has the potential to dissipate excess calories in the form of heat via the activation of uncoupling protein-1 (UCP1) in white and brown adipose tissues. Recent studies have shown that activation of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling pathway significantly contributes to the development of obesity, and blockade or inhibition is reported to protect from obesity by promoting white adipose browning and increasing mitochondrial biogenesis. Identification of novel compounds that activate beige/brown adipose characteristics to burn surplus calories and reduce excess storage of fat are actively sought in the fight against obesity. In this review, we present recent developments in our understanding of key modulators of TGF-β signaling pathways including follistatin (FST) and myostatin (MST) in regulating adipose browning and brown adipose mass and activity. While MST is a key ligand for TGF-β family, FST can bind and regulate biological activity of several TGF-β superfamily members including activins, bone morphogenic proteins (BMP) and inhibins. Here, we review the literature supporting the critical roles for FST, MST and other proteins in modulating TGF-β signaling to influence beige and brown adipose characteristics. We further review the potential therapeutic utility of FST for the treatment of obesity and related metabolic disorders.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3389/fendo.2021.653179

Cites

176 of 176 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Exercise-trained white adipose tissue fosters the generation of thermogenic brown-like adipocytes with specific adipokines including TGF-β, apelin, follistatin, and myostatin.

    “Moreover, exercise-trained WAT fosters the generation of thermogenic brown-like adipocytes with specific adipokines, including TGF-β [79], apelin, follistatin, and myostatin (Figure 3) [80,81].”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Pervin, S., Reddy, S. T., & Singh, R.
Affiliations
  • University of California, Los Angeles (US)
  • Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
Corresponding author
Singh, Rajan
Venue
Frontiers in Endocrinology
Published
2021-04-09
Volume
12
Pages
653179-653179
ISSN
1664-2392 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3152786655
Cited by
42
References
176
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 1
FWCI
0.70
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Frontiers in Endocrinology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (SC1CA232319, SC1AG049682)
  • Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Adipose Tissue and Metabolism
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Adipokines, Inflammation, and Metabolic Diseases
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › TGF-β signaling in diseases
Keywords
follistatin, myostatin, TGF-beta signaling, adipose tissue browning, brown adipose tissue, beige adipose tissue, obesity, UCP1, mitochondrial biogenesis, TGF-beta superfamily, activin, bone morphogenic proteins, inhibin, obesity-related metabolic disorders, obesity treatment
MeSH terms
Adipose Tissue, Beige, Uncoupling Protein 1, Animals, Adipose Tissue, Brown, Energy Metabolism, Fibronectins, Humans, Ligands, Metabolic Diseases, Obesity, Signal Transduction, Thermogenesis, Follistatin, Follistatin-Related Proteins, Mice, Transforming Growth Factor beta1, Myostatin

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review