肥胖是冠心病、高血压、2型糖尿病、高脂血症等许多代谢性疾病的共同危险因子,与胰岛素抵抗、代谢综合征密切相关。骨形态发生蛋白7(BMP-7)是最近发现的与肥胖相关的一种活性因子,可以特异性地激活棕色脂肪调控因子的表达,通过促进棕色脂肪细胞的分化来调控体内能量平衡。因此,对BMP-7的深入研究,了解其在肥胖的生理和病理过程中的作用,有助于揭示上述多基因疾病的分子生物学机制。 Obesity is a common risk factor for many metabolic diseases such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, hyperlipidemia and is closely related to insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. Bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7) is a newly discovered obesity-related active factor that can specifically activate the expression of brown adipose-regulatory factor and regulate the energy balance in vivo by promoting the differentiation of brown adipocytes. Therefore, an in-depth study of BMP-7 and its role in the obesity’s physiological and pathological processes will help to reveal the molecular biological mechanism of the above polygenic diseases.