Physiological and Pharmacological Roles of FGF21 in Cardiovascular Diseases

Table 1

Summary of major pharmacological studies of FGF21 in heart disease.

Heart disease	Model	Methods	Outcomes	Ref.
Atherosclerosis	Apolipoprotein E mice	Recombinant murine FGF21 was given daily intraperitoneally for 16 weeks	Atherosclerotic lesion area collagen composition ↓; Total cholesterol ↓; Hypertriglyceridemia ↓; Circulating adiponectin ↑	[63]
Coronary heart disease		Mouse FGF21 full length protein was given for 24 or 48 hours	Cell apoptosis ↓; Oxidative stress ↓; NO production ↑; eNOS phosphorylation ↑	[55]
Myocardial ischemia	Coronary artery ligation (ischemia/reperfusion)	Recombinant mouse FGF21 was administered intravenously immediately after myocardial injury every 12 hrs for 3 days	Activity of caspase-3 ↓; Degree of myocardial infarction ↓; Left ventricular function ↑	[59]
Cardiac hypertrophy	Isoproterenol infusion-induced cardiac hypertrophy/LPS-induced cardiac hypertrophy	FGF21 was injected intraperitoneally for 7 days or given for 24 hours in neonatal cardiomyocytes	Cardiomyocyte size ↓; Δ heart weight/body weight ↓; Inflammation ↓; Cardiac oxidative stress ↓	[64, 65]
Diabetic cardiomyopathy	Multiple low-dose STZ-induced type 1 diabetes	Knockout FGF21 in type 1 diabetic mouse model	Oxidative stress ↑; Lipid accumulation ↑; Cardiac dysfunction and remodeling ↑	[66]