Hormone-like fibroblast growth factors and metabolic regulation

The family of fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) consisting now of 22 members is generally considered to control a wide range of biological functions such as development, differentiation and survival. However, research during the past decade provided substantial evidence that a so called “hormone-like” subgroup of FGFs, comprised of FGF19, FGF21 and FGF23, is involved in the regulation of diverse metabolic pathways to control glucose, lipid, bile acid, phosphate and vitamin D metabolism. The unique properties of these FGFs include predominant production of the factors in selective tissues, their abundance in the blood due to the lack of extracellular heparin-mediated sequestration, and highly specific tissue-targeted action via engagement of their respective co-receptors. The important metabolic context of FGF19, FGF21, and FGF23 actions has revealed important novel roles for FGFs and provided significant means to explore an opportunity for therapeutic targeting of these factors and their corresponding pathways.