Intestinal BMP-9 expression correlates with FGF19 in a cohort of adipose patients

Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-9, a member of the TGFβ-family, is believed to be mainly produced in the liver. Serum levels of BMP-9 were reported to be reduced in newly diagnosed diabetic patients and BMP-9 overexpression ameliorated steatosis in the high fat diet-induced mouse model of obesity. Because both, FGF21 and 19 were also described to protect the liver from steatosis, we investigated if such functions of BMP-9 might be related to a regulation of FGF’s using samples from a cohort of adipose patients with or without diabetes (n=11 non-diabetic, 16 diabetic, all: BMI>40).