Endocrine fibroblast growth factors 15/19 and 21: from feast to famine

Matthew J. Potthoff; Steven A. Kliewer; David J. Mangelsdorf

doi:10.1101/gad.184788.111

Endocrine fibroblast growth factors 15/19 and 21: from feast to famine

¹Department of Pharmacology,
²Howard Hughes Medical Institute,
³Department of Molecular Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390, USA

↵4 These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

We review the physiology and pharmacology of two atypical fibroblast growth factors (FGFs)—FGF15/19 and FGF21—that can function as hormones. Both FGF15/19 and FGF21 act on multiple tissues to coordinate carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in response to nutritional status. Whereas FGF15/19 is secreted from the small intestine in response to feeding and has insulin-like actions, FGF21 is secreted from the liver in response to extended fasting and has glucagon-like effects. FGF21 also acts in an autocrine fashion in several tissues, including adipose. The pharmacological actions of FGF15/19 and FGF21 make them attractive drug candidates for treating metabolic disease.

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Footnotes

↵5 Corresponding author.

E-mail steven.kliewer{at}utsouthwestern.edu.
Article published online ahead of print. Article and publication date are online at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.184788.111.