ArticleNature communications2021
Elevated circulating follistatin associates with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.
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Article in Nature communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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44citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
3.8field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
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Who cites it
44 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 61 citations in OpenAlex.
- Contribution of Liver and Pancreatic Islet Crosstalk to β-Cell Function/Dysfunction in the Presence of Fatty Liver.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Pooled it
- Cardiac rehabilitation influences serum myokine levels in patients after acute coronary syndrome: the randomised CARDIO-REH study.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
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- Circulating follistatin concentrations in adolescent PCOS: Divergent effects of randomized treatments.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2023Trial
- Metabolic benefits of ketohexokinase inhibition in individuals with MASLD: a randomized placebo-controlled crossover trial.Nature metabolism · 2026Article
- Early-life proteomic and microbiome features signal obesity risk across 26 years of follow-up.mSystems · 2026Article
- Higher serum follistatin levels are associated with increased vascular calcification in haemodialysis patients.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Article
- The Association between β-Thalassemia Major (β-TM) and Cardiac Complications: Recent Insights.Current cardiology reviews · 2026Review
- Genetic regulation of the plasma proteome and its link to cardiometabolic disease in Greenlandic Inuit.American journal of human genetics · 2025Article
- Fructose and follistatin potentiate acute MASLD during complete hepatic insulin resistance.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Relationship Between High Serum Levels of Follistatin with Impaired Physical Function, and Severe Disease Activity in Rheumatoid Arthritis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Physical Exercise as a Therapeutic Approach for Patients Living with Type 2 Diabetes: Does the Explanation Reside in Exerkines?-A Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Association Between Follistatin and PAI-1 Levels in MASLD Subjects Undergoing a Plant-Based Dietary Intervention.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Article
- Machine Learning and Augmented Intelligence Enables Prognosis of Type 2 Diabetes Prior to Clinical Manifestation.Current diabetes reviews · 2025Review
- Evaluation of Metabolism-Associated Proteins in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm.Journal of vascular research · 2025Article
- Therapeutic Targeting of PPARγ in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Efficacy, Safety, and Drug Development.Drug design, development and therapy · 2025Review
- Hepatokines: unveiling the molecular and cellular mechanisms connecting hepatic tissue to insulin resistance and inflammation.Acta diabetologica · 2024Review
- Metabolically healthy obesity: from epidemiology and mechanisms to clinical implications.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2024Review
- The Concentration of Follistatin and Activin A in Serum and Selected Biochemical Parameters in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: Stratification by Tobacco Smoke Exposure, Insulin Resistance, and Overweight/Obesity.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
42 authors at 14 institutions in 9 countries.
Chuanyan Wu *Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
Yan Borné *Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
Rui GaoSchool of Control Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China.
Maykel López RodriguezInstitute of Clinical Medicine, Internal Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
William C RoellLilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
Jonathan M WilsonLilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-8648-600X
Ajit RegmiLilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
Cheng LuanDepartment of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
Dina Mansour AlyDepartment of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
Andreas PeterDepartment of Internal Medicine IV, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Nephrology; and Department for Diagnostic Laboratory Medicine, Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry, University Hospital Tübingen, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Jürgen MachannInstitute of Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases (IDM) of the Helmholtz Center Munich, Tübingen, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-4458-5886
Harald StaigerDepartment of Internal Medicine IV, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Nephrology; and Department for Diagnostic Laboratory Medicine, Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry, University Hospital Tübingen, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Andreas FritscheDepartment of Internal Medicine IV, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Nephrology; and Department for Diagnostic Laboratory Medicine, Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry, University Hospital Tübingen, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Andreas L BirkenfeldDepartment of Internal Medicine IV, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Nephrology; and Department for Diagnostic Laboratory Medicine, Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry, University Hospital Tübingen, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-1407-9023
Rongya TaoDivision of Endocrinology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Robert WagnerDepartment of Internal Medicine IV, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Nephrology; and Department for Diagnostic Laboratory Medicine, Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry, University Hospital Tübingen, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-6120-0191
Mickaël CanouilInserm U1283 / CNRS UMR 8199, European Genomic Institute for Diabetes (EGID), Institut Pasteur de Lille; University of Lille, Lille University Hospital, Lille, France.ORCID 0000-0002-3396-4549
Mun-Gwan HongAffinity Proteomics, Science for Life Laboratory, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0001-8603-8293
Jochen M SchwenkAffinity Proteomics, Science for Life Laboratory, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0001-8141-8449
Emma AhlqvistDepartment of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0002-6513-2384
Minna U KaikkonenA.I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, Department of Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.ORCID 0000-0001-6294-0979
Peter NilssonDepartment of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0002-5652-8459
Angela C ShoreNIHR Exeter Clinical Research Facility, Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and University of Exeter Medical School, Exeter, Devon, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-3039-308X
Faisel KhanDivision of Systems Medicine, University of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital & Medical School, Dundee, UK.
Andrea NataliDepartment of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
Olle MelanderDepartment of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
Marju Orho-MelanderDepartment of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
Jan NilssonDepartment of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0002-9752-7479
Hans-Ulrich HäringDepartment of Internal Medicine IV, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Nephrology; and Department for Diagnostic Laboratory Medicine, Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry, University Hospital Tübingen, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Erik RenströmDepartment of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
Claes B WollheimDepartment of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
Gunnar EngströmDepartment of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
Jianping WengDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Division of Life Sciences of Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
Ewan R PearsonDivision of Population Health & Genomics, School of Medicine, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 9SY, UK.
Paul W FranksDepartment of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0002-0520-7604
Morris F WhiteDivision of Endocrinology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Kevin L DuffinLilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
Allan Arthur VaagSteno Diabetes Center Copenhagen, Gentofte, Denmark.
Markku LaaksoInstitute of Clinical Medicine, Internal Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.ORCID 0000-0002-3394-7749
Norbert StefanDepartment of Internal Medicine IV, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Nephrology; and Department for Diagnostic Laboratory Medicine, Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry, University Hospital Tübingen, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-2186-9595
Leif GroopDepartment of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0002-0187-3263
Yang De MarinisDepartment of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden. yang.de_marinis@med.lu.se.ORCID 0000-0002-8081-2142
Lund University · SEDeutsches Diabetes-Zentrum e.V. · DEEli Lilly (United States) · USUniversity of Eastern Finland · FIBoston Children's Hospital · USScience for Life Laboratory · SEShandong University · CNUniversity of Dundee · GBUniversity of Science and Technology of China · CNCentre National de la Recherche Scientifique · FRSteno Diabetes Centers · DKUniversity of Exeter · GBUniversity of Helsinki · FIUniversity of Pisa · IT
Funding
Regulation of hippocampal function by central and peripheral IRS signalingR01AG067913 · NIA · BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL · PI WHITE, MORRIS F. · 2020 to 2024
$3.1MNIA NIH HHS R01 AG067913
Abstract
The hepatokine follistatin is elevated in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and promotes hyperglycemia in mice. Here we explore the relationship of plasma follistatin levels with incident T2D and mechanisms involved. Adjusted hazard ratio (HR) per standard deviation (SD) increase in follistatin levels for T2D is 1.24 (CI: 1.04-1.47, p < 0.05) during 19-year follow-up (n = 4060, Sweden); and 1.31 (CI: 1.09-1.58, p < 0.01) during 4-year follow-up (n = 883, Finland). High circulating follistatin associates with adipose tissue insulin resistance and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (n = 210, Germany). In human adipocytes, follistatin dose-dependently increases free fatty acid release. In genome-wide association study (GWAS), variation in the glucokinase regulatory protein gene (GCKR) associates with plasma follistatin levels (n = 4239, Sweden; n = 885, UK, Italy and Sweden) and GCKR regulates follistatin secretion in hepatocytes in vitro. Our findings suggest that GCKR regulates follistatin secretion and that elevated circulating follistatin associates with an increased risk of T2D by inducing adipose tissue insulin resistance.
Indexed as
Adaptor Proteins, Signal TransducingAdipose TissueDiabetes Mellitus, Type 2FollistatinGenome-Wide Association StudyHepatocytesHumansInsulin ResistanceMiddle AgedNon-alcoholic Fatty Liver DiseaseAdaptor Proteins, Signal TransducingFollistatinGCKR protein, human
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.