Acetaminophen (APAP) is a common medication that induces hepatocellular damage in a time- or dose-dependent manner. Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) exerts a series of biological effects, including cellular repair. Compared to clinical diagnosis parameters, we aimed to evaluate whether FGF21 can serve as a sensitive biomarker for APAP-induced liver impairment. In the present study, we discussed comparable data from APAP-treated patients and parallelly established APAP-exposed mice for investigation. The resulting human serological data showed that APAP-treated patients have a visible reduction of FGF21 expression in undetected liver impairment of clinical diagnosis. In the animal study, APAP-exposed livers exhibited normal metabolic functions and liver functions, as revealed by biochemical test and histopathological examination. Endogenous FGF21 concentrations in APAP-treated mice were decreased in sera and liver cells. Moreover, comparable immunoassay data showed that hepatocellular FGF21 expression was reduced in a time-dependent manner. Taken together, these findings elucidate the involvement of abnormal FGF21 expression in early APAP-induced liver impairment. Interestingly, FGF21 may be a promising biomarker of APAP-exposed livers.
Keywords: FGF21; acetaminophen; biomarker; liver impairment.