ArticleMolecular metabolism2020
Irisin: Still chasing shadows.
Article in Molecular metabolism, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
54 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 73 citations in OpenAlex.
- Protective role of irisin on bone in osteoporosis: a systematic review of rodent studies.Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA · 2025Pooled it
- The association between circulating irisin levels and osteoporosis in women: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Pooled it
- Effect of Chronic Resistance Training on Circulating Irisin: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Cardiometabolic health, visceral fat and circulating irisin levels: results from a real-world weight loss study.Journal of endocrinological investigation · 2021Trial
- Pre-Dialysis Serum Myostatin Concentration Is Independently Associated with Intradialytic Muscle Cramps in Hemodialysis Patients.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Sex specific effects of irisin on the skeleton.Bone research · 2026Review
- Exercise mimetics: molecular mechanisms, biological and therapeutic effects.Molecular biomedicine · 2026Review
- Review
- The Myokine Irisin Represents an Indirect Pathway Linking Exercise to Hippocampal Subfields Relevant to Alzheimer's Disease and Neurogenesis.Aging cell · 2026Article
- Association of Circulating Irisin with Insulin Resistance and Metabolic Risk Markers in Prediabetic and Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes Patients.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and Adipose Tissue Inflammation in Humans: A Scoping Review.Nutrition reviews · 2026Article
- Molecular insights into irisin's role in the regulation of programmed cell death: mechanisms and therapeutic potential.Journal of molecular medicine (Berlin, Germany) · 2025Review
- Moderate Chronic Treadmill Exercise Slows Dopaminergic Neuron Loss in a Rat Model of Parkinson's Disease and Alters RNA Content of Circulating Plasma Exosomes.Journal of neuroscience research · 2025Article
- Diagnostic and Therapeutic Value of the Exercise-Induced Myokine Irisin in Cancer Biology: A Comprehensive Review.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Exercise Delays Brain Ageing Through Muscle-Brain Crosstalk.Cell proliferation · 2025Review
- Aerobic exercise-induced changes in fluid biomarkers in Parkinson's disease.NPJ Parkinson's disease · 2025Review
- The Impact and Molecular Mechanisms of Exercise in Cancer Therapy.Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Review
- Optimised Skeletal Muscle Mass as a Key Strategy for Obesity Management.Metabolites · 2025Review
- Metabolic Syndrome, Thyroid Dysfunction, and Cardiovascular Risk: The Triptych of Evil.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Fndc5 is translated from an upstream ATG start codon and cleaved to produce irisin myokine precursor protein in humans and mice.Cell metabolism · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveConsiderable uncertainty remains regarding the veracity of measuring myokine irisin more than seven years after its original description. Unresolved issues include the nature of transcription of the irisin precursor fibronectin type III domain containing 5 (FNDC5) gene across species, the reliability of irisin levels measured with commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), and the overall validity of the recently published reference values for human serum measured with quantitative mass spectrometry. We utilized multiple species and measures to evaluate the robustness of commonly used reagents and methods for reporting irisin.
methodsAmplification of cDNA was used to assess the FNDC5 transcript patterns in humans and mice. The specificity and sensitivity of different irisin antibodies were examined via western blotting. Quantification of circulating native irisin was conducted with mass spectrometry using an absolute quantification peptide for irisin.
resultsWe show that there is a greater transcript diversity of human FNDC5 than currently annotated, but no indication of the expression of transcripts leading to a truncated form of irisin. Available irisin antibodies still bind to patterns of unspecific serum proteins, which compromise reliable measurements of irisin with ELISAs. Absolute quantification of irisin with labeled peptides by mass spectrometry is an advanced method but requires a multi-step sample preparation introducing uncontrollable variations in the measurement.
conclusionOur data represent an explicit warning against measuring circulating irisin using available methods. Measuring irisin is akin to chasing shadows.
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
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 Socratic graph.