Research
Hormonal
Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 (FGF21) analogues improve plasma lipid profiles in humans but lack glucose-lowering efficacy in type-2 diabetic patients, contrasting with robust glucose and lipid improvements observed in mouse models.
If you are considering FGF21-based therapies for diabetes, understand that current evidence suggests they may help with blood fats (lipids) but are not expected to lower blood sugar levels in humans, unlike what was seen in laboratory mice. This highlights the importance of human-specific clinical data over animal studies.
GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
First clinical trials with FGF21 analogues in type-2 diabetic patients revealed improvements in plasma lipids, but also an unexpected lack of glucose-lowering efficacy.
Why this rating
Based on summarized clinical trial data and extensive preclinical mouse data cited in a high-impact review.
Source
Fibroblast Growth Factor 21—Metabolic Role in Mice and Men
Harald Staiger et al. · Endocrine Reviews · 2017
DOI 10.1210/er.2017-00016
narrative_reviewCited 267×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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- Fructose ingestion acutely and robustly increases FGF21 blood levels in both mice and humans, whereas glucose causes only a modest and delayed increase, establishing a liver-brain feedback loop for sugar consumption regulation.Good
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