4.5 Article

FGF21 negatively affects long-term female fertility in mice

Journal

HELIYON
Volume 8, Issue 11, Pages -

Publisher

CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e11490

Keywords

FGF21; Fertility; Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; High -fat diet

Funding

  1. Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Forderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung [182471]
  2. Fondation Marie et Francis Minkoff
  3. Fondation Lee-naards [5489]

Ask authors/readers for more resources

A short-term treatment with FGF21 has a long-term effect on female fertility in mice, raising safety concerns for FGF21 analogs currently in clinical development. Future clinical trials should include assessments of reproductive health outcomes.
Objective: Obesity and associated liver disease are a growing public health concern. Pharmacological agents to treat non-alcoholic fatty liver disease are limited. FGF21, a hormone secreted by the liver and potent metabolic modulator, is a promising therapeutic target for this indication with several analogs currently in clinical development. However, concerns about a negative effect of FGF21 on female fertility have not been fully addressed. Methods: After induction of obesity, female C57BL/6N mice received a 7-day course of subcutaneously administered FGF21. Control groups received either high-fat diet (HFD) or a normal diet (ND). The mothers were then mated with lean males for 12 weeks. The estrous cycle was recorded for two weeks after breeding. The metabolic phenotype, liver steatosis and reproductive organs were assessed at sacrifice 14 weeks after treatment. Results: A short-course treatment of FGF21 leads to weight reduction during treatment but has no long-term impact on liver steatosis. A treatment with FGF21 leads to a reduction in the number of pregnancies (0 vs 1, p = 0.019) and no viable pup was born to a mother previously treated with FGF21. The FGF21 treatment affected the number of cycles (1 vs 3, p = 0.048) and amount in diestrus (54 vs 75%, p = 0.008) 12 weeks after the treatment. Additionally, the number of corpora lutea (0.8 vs 3.0, p = 0.016), and mature follicles (0 vs 1, p = 0.037) was reduced compared to the ND group while uterine histology remained unaffected. Conclusion: A short-term treatment with FGF21 has a long-term effect on female fertility in mice. This represents a potential safety concern for FGF21 analogs currently in clinical development. Reproductive health outcomes should be included in upcoming clinical trials.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.5
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available