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Review
. 2025 Nov;31(11):1021-1031.
doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2025.05.001. Epub 2025 Jun 5.

Targeting FSH for osteoporosis, obesity, and Alzheimer's disease

Funda Korkmaz  1 , Judit Gimenez-Roig  1 , Farhath Sultana  1 , Victoria Laurencin  1 , Fasilet Sen  1 , Liam Cullen  1 , Steven Sims  1 , Anusha Pallapati  1 , Satish Rojekar  1 , Guzel Burganova  1 , Georgii Pevnev  1 , Uliana Cheliadinova  1 , Darya Vasilyeva  1 , Ofer Moldavski  1 , Tal Frolinger  1 , Anisa Gumerova  1 , Orly Barak  1 , Vitaly Ryu  1 , Daria Lizneva  1 , Keqiang Ye  2 , Anne Schafer  3 , Clifford J Rosen  4 , Tony Yuen  1 , Se-Min Kim  5 , Mone Zaidi  6
Affiliations
Review

Targeting FSH for osteoporosis, obesity, and Alzheimer's disease

Funda Korkmaz et al. Trends Mol Med. 2025 Nov.

Abstract

Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), traditionally known for regulating gonadal development, maturation, and estrogen secretion, has now been implicated in regulating fat and bone metabolism and cognition. Preclinical evidence from genetic and pharmacological studies in rodent models, combined with human data from population-based observations, genetic studies, and a limited number of interventional trials, supports the notion of independent effects of FSH on the skeleton, fat, and brain. This evolving understanding of the nonreproductive roles of FSH presents potential therapeutic opportunities to mitigate age-related health challenges, which include osteoporosis, obesity, cardiovascular risk, and dementia. This review summarizes the current knowledge on the interplay between pituitary-derived FSH and peripheral and central tissues, as well as recent progress in therapeutic development.

Keywords: FSH; bone; brain; fat; pituitary.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests M.Z. is an inventor on issued patents on inhibiting FSH for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis and obesity (U.S. patents 8,435,948 and 11,034,761). M.Z. is also an inventor on a patent application on the composition and use of humanized monoclonal anti-FSH antibodies and is a coinventor of a pending patent on the use of FSH as a target for preventing Alzheimer’s disease. M.Z., S.R., and T.Y. are coinventors on a pending patent relating to the ultrahigh formulation of an FSH-blocking antibody. These patents are owned by Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS), and the inventors and coinventors would be recipients of royalties, per institutional policy. M.Z. also consults for several financial platforms, including Gerson Lehman Group and Guidepoint, on drugs for osteoporosis and genetic bone diseases. The other authors declare no competing interests.

References

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