IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 in patients with liver disease/IGF-1 und IGFBP-3 bei Patienten mit Lebererkrankungen

Abstract

AbstractHepatic stellate cells are stimulated by insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and high IGF-1 levels attenuate fibrogenesis and accelerate liver regeneration. This effect is mainly mediated by upregulation of hepatic growth factor and downregulation of transforming growth factor β1. Thus, decreased IGF-1 levels in patients point to an impaired regeneration potential in chronic liver failure. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relation between liver dysfunction and levels of IGF-1 and IGF-binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3) levels.One hundred and twenty-seven patients aged 45 to 60 years (36 women, 91 men) with diagnosed liver disease were recruited for the study. From the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP), 508 healthy individuals were matched for age and sex as the control group. Associations between laboratory parameters of liver failure and IGF-1 or IGFBP-3 were examined. Serum IGF-1 and serum IGFBP-3 levels were measured by automated two-site chemiluminescence immunoassays.IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 levels were significantly lower in patients with liver diseases. There was no detectable homogeneous relation between liver transaminases and IGF-1 or IGFBP-3 levels in the patient group alone. Patients with a Child Pugh Score of C revealed lower levels of IGF-1 than patients with Child Pugh Scores of B or A. In IGFBP-3, this association was also apparent, but statistically not significant. In pooled analyses of patients and healthy controls, negative associations between aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT) and γ-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT) activities and IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 levels, as well as between alanine aminotransferase (ALAT) activity and IGF-1 levels were detected.We demonstrated that compared with healthy controls patients with liver disease exhibited lower IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 levels.