title: Relation between fibroblast growth factor-21, adiposity, metabolism, and weight reduction.
abstract: Fibroblast growth factor-21 (FGF-21) has been proposed as a novel metabolic regulator, and animal experiments suggested that FGF-21 may affect energy balance. In humans, FGF-21 was correlated with obesity. Until now, no data exist regarding the relationship of FGF-21 and weight reduction in humans. We therefore investigated whether FGF-21 is modified by a moderate intended weight loss in a human trial. Thirty obese individuals (24 female, 6 male) participated in a weight reduction program for 6 months. In addition to several anthropometric and metabolic parameters, FGF-21 was measured before and after weight loss. Baseline serum FGF-21 was independently associated with markers of lipid metabolism and waist circumference. The multimodal intervention induced a moderate weight loss (97.4 ± 3.1 vs 92.2 ± 3.1 kg, P < .001), which was accompanied by a significant improvement of lipid and glucose metabolism. However, FGF-21 levels were not modified by moderate weight reduction; and FGF-21 levels at baseline were not a predictive marker for subsequent weight loss. The results presented here confirmed that FGF-21 levels are associated with markers of lipid metabolism and an estimate of abdominal adiposity. The finding that moderate weight loss did not induce changes of FGF-21 levels in humans suggests that FGF-21 is not directly regulated by fat mass under those conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Nutrition, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Knut
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mai
authors.forename: Franziska
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schwarz
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bobbert
authors.forename: Janin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Andres
authors.forename: Anke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Assmann
authors.forename: Andreas F H
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Pfeiffer
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Spranger
mesh_terms: D050153:Abdominal Fat / Q000378:metabolism; D050154:Adiposity; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055105:Waist Circumference / Q000502:physiology; D015431:Weight Loss
chemical_list: D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D007328:Insulin; C414620:fibroblast growth factor 21; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors; D002784:Cholesterol; D005947:Glucose