{"doi":"10.3389/fendo.2020.00654","title":"Fibroblast Growth Factor-21 to Adiponectin Ratio: A Potential Biomarker to Monitor Liver Fat in Children With Obesity","abstract":"Background. There is a pressing need for effective and non-invasive biomarkers to track intrahepatic triglyceride (IHTG) in children at-risk for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), as standard-of-care reference tools, liver biopsy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), are impractical to monitor the course disease. Objective. We aimed to examine the association between serum fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-21 to adiponectin ratio (FAR) and IHTG as assessed by MRI in children with obesity. Methods. Serum FGF21 and adiponectin levels and IHTG were measured at two-time points (baseline, 6 months) in obese children enrolled in a clinical weight loss program. The association between percent change in FAR and IHTG at the final visit was examined using a multiple linear regression model. Results. At baseline, FAR was higher in the subjects with NAFLD (n=23, 35.8 ± 41.9 pg/ng) than without NAFLD (n=35, 19.8 ± 13.7 pg/ng; p=0.042). Forty-eight subjects completed both visits and were divided into IHTG loss (≥1% reduction than baseline), no change (within 1% change), and gain (≥1% increase than baseline) groups. At 6 months, the percent change in FAR was different among the three groups (p=0.005). Multiple linear regression showed a positive relationship between percent change in FAR and the final liver fat percent in sex and pubertal stage-similar subjects with NAFLD at baseline (slope coefficient 6.18, 95% CI 1.90 to 10.47, P=0.007), but not in those without NAFLD. Conclusions. Higher value in percent increase in FAR is positively associated with a higher level of IHTG percent value at 6 months in children with baseline NAFLD. FAR could be a potential biomarker to monitor the changes in IHTG in children with NAFLD.","journal":"Frontiers in Endocrinology","year":2020,"id":71163,"datarank":0.44166584687496613,"base_score":2.9444389791664403,"endowment":2.9444389791664403,"self_citation_contribution":0.44166584687496613,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.44166584687496613,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":18,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9669,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2020-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":376349,"name":"Shasha Bai","orcid":"0000-0003-4999-327X","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":323379,"name":"Xiawei Ou","orcid":"0000-0001-9815-0127","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":276177,"name":"Kelly E. Mercer","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":377644,"name":"Haixia Lin","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":377645,"name":"Kori Mansfield","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":377646,"name":"Robert F. Buchmann","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":376350,"name":"Eva C. Diaz","orcid":"0000-0002-3528-677X","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":377647,"name":"Jon D. Oden","orcid":null,"position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":266235,"name":"Elisabet Børsheim","orcid":"0000-0002-7842-0625","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":273743,"name":"Sean H. Adams","orcid":"0000-0002-9515-2319","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":376351,"name":"Jonathan A. Dranoff","orcid":"0000-0002-2439-4759","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":376348,"name":"Emir Tas","orcid":"0000-0003-3759-2778","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":43,"raw_metadata":{"citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-18T21:43:57.004133Z","pmid":"33071964","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}