Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I levels in postmenopausal women receiving tibolone.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J D Teale.
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Octreotide, a long-acting somatostatin analogue, has been used to alleviate hypoglycaemia in patients with insulinomas. Transient worsening of fasting hypoglycaemia following octreotide has also been described (Stehouwer et al., 1989). We describe a patient with a 'proinsulinoma' in whom octreotide caused rapid and prolonged symptomatic worsening of fasting hypoglycaemia. Catecholamine and cortisol counterregulatory hormonal responses were normal but those of glucagon and GH were impaired. Acute neuroglycopaenic symptoms were present during octreotide induced hypoglycaemia, which was accompanied by and attributed to an acute reduction in pancreatic glucagon secretion in the presence of persistent and unsuppressed hyperproinsulinaemia. This suggests that glucagon may be important in maintaining glucose homeostasis in chronic hypoglycaemia due to endogenous hyperinsulinism even though its concentration in the peripheral blood is not raised.
Selected combinations of tests for growth hormone and the growth mediating peptides, insulin-like growth factors, and their binding proteins have improved the diagnostic reliability of the procedures used in the investigation of growth abnormalities (GH deficiency, GH and IGF receptor deficiencies, GH excess, diabetes, or undernutrition) and in malignancies associated with hypoglycemia.
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We describe a case of recurrent hypoglycaemia associated with a hepatoma. During hypoglycaemia serum insulin was undetectable. Plasma insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) was not elevated although 71% of plasma IGF-II was present as big IGF-II (molecular weight 11 kDa) which probably represents a non-glycated form of pro-IGF-II. The GH response to hypoglycaemia was impaired and plasma levels of both IGF-I and the GH-dependent IGF binding protein (IGFBP-3) were low. A recently described unextracted assay directed against the first 21 amino acids of the E-domain (E-21) of proinsulin-like growth factor-II (pro-IGF-II) allows direct plasma estimation (plasma E-21) of larger molecular forms of IGF-II without interference from normal IGF-II and IGF binding proteins. Basal values were grossly elevated (23.7 and 23.8 nmol/l). Treatment with GH led to an increase in the mean plasma glucose across 24 hours (4.25 +/- 0.21 mol/l (mean +/- SEM) before treatment, compared with 4.86 mmol/l +/- 0.17 following GH (P < 0.01)) and a reduction in hypoglycaemic attacks. The treatment was associated with a rise in IGFBP-3 and small increases in insulin like growth factors. Subsequent treatment with the somatostatin analogue octreotide did not produce a significant change in plasma glucose levels or insulin-like growth factors. Two courses of intrahepatic adriamycin restored elevated levels of E-21 to normal. Total IGF-II remained normal and IGF-I increased. GH treatment was successfully withdrawn with no effect on plasma glucose or growth factor levels. The patient remained free from hypoglycaemia.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the predictive value of fasting insulin concentrations for subsequent fatal or non-fatal ischaemic heart disease at five year follow up and to examine the associations between insulin and other indicators of risk. DESIGN: A prospective population study among 2512 men aged 45 to 59 at recruitment. SETTING: A whole population sample of men resident in Caerphilly, South Wales. MEASUREMENTS: At recruitment fasting blood samples were taken for measurement of plasma lipids and serum insulin. Men were re-examined at a five year follow up and ischaemic heart disease events during this period were assessed from hospital notes, death certificates, and electrocardiograms. MAIN RESULTS: Diabetic men and those men with a fasting blood glucose of > or = 8 mmol/l were excluded from all analyses. In a univariate analysis the incidence of ischaemic heart disease increased with increasing concentration of fasting insulin, such that for men in the top 20% of the insulin distribution the odds of developing ischaemic heart disease were 1.87 relative to men in the bottom 20%. On multivariate analysis this relation disappeared on adjusting for plasma triglycerides, body mass index, and evidence of ischaemic heart disease at recruitment. CONCLUSION: In this population in South Wales there was no evidence that the fasting insulin concentration is an independent risk factor for ischaemic heart disease. The univariate association between insulin and incident disease was almost entirely explained by the association of both with triglycerides and body mass index.
Hypoglycaemia is a relatively common cause for referral of patients to the accident and emergency departments of hospitals but most of it is iatrogenic. Occasionally, however, hypoglycaemia is due to any one of up to a hundred different disorders. In some, hypoglycaemia is the cause of intermittent neuroglycopenic symptoms that lead to their referral to medical outpatients for investigation. Only the most important are discussed here. Hyperinsulinism due to abnormal beta-cell function is an uncommon but important cause of spontaneous hypoglycaemia. The diagnosis is suspected from the history of episodes of altered consciousness confirmed by demonstrating raised plasma insulin, C-peptide and proinsulin levels in peripheral blood in the presence of hypoglycaemia. Differentiation of the various causes of endogenous hyperinsulinism before surgery is difficult if not impossible and the low predictive value of most of the localizing techniques that are available makes them an additional and unnecessary cost, producing little clinical benefit. Hypoglycaemia caused by non-islet cell tumours (NICTH) is seemingly rarer than hyperinsulinism from insulinoma and tends to occur in older patients. The clinical features are similar to those of hyperinsulinism but laboratory investigation reveals appropriately depressed plasma insulin, C-peptide and proinsulin levels in the presence of hypoglycaemia. The plasma IGF-II:IGF-I ratio is characteristically high and the concentration of the E-domain of proIGF-II is raised. Autoimmune hypoglycaemia is more common in some countries than others and is most often due to autoantibodies to insulin (AIS). It may also be caused by autoantibodies to the insulin receptor and possibly to autoantibodies that are stimulatory to pancreatic beta-cells. Contrary to popular belief, idiopathic reactive hypoglycaemia is rare and only one of the possible causes of the postprandial syndrome. It is characterized by a low blood glucose concentration in blood collected during a spontaneous symptomatic episode but not at other times. Its cause is unknown. Other causes of hypoglycaemia include endocrinopathies of various kinds; sepsis including malaria; congestive cardiac failure; hepatic and renal insufficiencies; diverse inborn errors of metabolism; and exogenous toxins, of which alcohol is probably the commonest.
OBJECTIVES: Insulin related growth factor 1 (IGF1) is an important growth promoting peptide which has anabolic effects on in vitro cartilage metabolism. The fact that serum levels tend to decrease in elderly subjects while osteoarthritis (OA) increases in prevalence suggests that suboptimal levels may play a part in the development of OA. This study therefore considers the hypothesis that IGF1 levels are low in subjects with OA of the knee. METHODS: Serum IGF1 levels in a community derived sample with symptomatic knee OA were compared with those in normal controls matched by age and gender. Overall radiographic score, osteophyte score, sclerosis score, and joint space narrowing score were correlated with IFG1 levels. RESULTS: One hundred and seventy-seven elderly subjects (83 with knee pain, 94 without knee pain) participated, allowing the identification of 78 case-control pairs matched by age and gender (mean 71.8 v 71.9 years, SD 7.6 for the two groups). No difference was found in serum IGF1 levels between the cases and controls (mean(SD) 15.9(4.7) nmol/l, for cases, 16.4(5.4) for controls). Significant negative correlations were found between IGF1 levels and age, total radiographic score, osteophyte score, and sclerosis score. In a multiple regression model, however, only age remained significant. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides no evidence that serum IGF1 levels are low in OA. Apparent correlations with radiographic features of OA may be due to the confounding effects of age.
Tamoxifen treatment of women with advanced breast cancer has previously been reported to reduce plasma insulin-like growth factor-type I (IGF-I) concentrations. In this study we have examined the effect of treatment with Tamoxifen, medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) or 4-hydroxyandrostenedione (4-OHA) on plasma IGF-I and IGF-II concentrations. As IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs) can modulate the biological effects of IGF-I, plasma IGFBP-I levels were also measured. Treatment with Tamoxifen for 2 weeks resulted in a small, but significant, decrease in IGF-I levels, but increase in the plasma concentration of IGFBP-I. In contrast, treatment with MPA increased levels of IGF-I, but significantly reduced plasma IGFBP-I concentrations. Treatment with 4-OHA had no significant overall effect on plasma IGF-I or IGFBP-I levels, although changes were detected for some subjects. Plasma IGF-II concentrations were not altered by treatment with Tamoxifen, MPA or 4-OHA. It is concluded that although treatment with Tamoxifen or MPA produced significant changes in plasma IGF-I concentrations, any physiological effects of such changes are likely to be modulated by the corresponding alterations in plasma IGFBP-I concentrations.
The hypoglycaemia caused by non-islet cell tumours is often associated with an increase in plasma insulin-like activity. In many cases there is a relative if not always absolute increase in plasma insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II). Growth hormone (GH) secretion is almost invariably depressed as is the plasma insulin response to oral glucose. Despite the high concentration of IGFs (i.e. IGF-I and IGF-II) normally found in the plasma of healthy people their potential hypoglycaemic effect is not manifest due to the tightness with which they are bound to specific binding proteins (IGFBPs). Plasma levels of the major binding protein (IGFBP-3), which is GH-dependent, were depressed in three patients with tumour induced hypoglycaemia. Treatment with biosynthetic GH restored IGFBP-3 to levels which were approximately equimolar to total plasma IGF concentrations, alleviated the hypoglycaemia and restored the plasma insulin responses to oral glucose. We suggest that after GH treatment IGF-II is sequestered by stimulated IGFBP-3 in association with a pre-existing acid-labile subunit to form high molecular weight complexes which prevent IGF-II gaining access to tissues receptors through which it exerts its hypoglycaemic effects.
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We have detected somatostatin receptors (SSR) by autoradiography in 3/4 established small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cell lines but not in two non-SCLC cell lines. The growth of 1/3 SSR positive SCLC cell lines was significantly inhibited by the long-acting somatostatin analogue octreotide (SMS 201-995, Sandostatin) 10(-9) M. We treated 20 SCLC patients with octreotide 250 micrograms three times daily for 1 week prechemotherapy (six patients) or at relapse after chemotherapy (14). Octreotide was well tolerated, and serum insulin-like growth factor-I levels were suppressed to 62 +/- 7% of pre-treatment levels. However there was no evidence of anti-tumour activity measured by tumour bulk or serum levels of neuron-specific enolase. In one patient metastatic skin nodules were shown to be SSR positive before and at the end of 2 weeks octreotide. Despite this the patient had progressive disease, and tumour cells obtained by fine needle aspirate before and after treatment showed no growth inhibition when cultured with octreotide immediately or following establishment as a cell line. In summary we saw little correlation between SSR expression and growth inhibition by octreotide, either in vitro or clinically.
Spontaneous hypoglycaemia was the presenting feature of a man with a large subpleural fibroma. Preoperative and postoperative studies support the view that the tumour induced hypoglycaemia was due to the secretion of peptide hormones by the tumour.
We showed previously that insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) is detectable in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) tumor biopsies and cell lines and that recombinant human IGF-I stimulates DNA synthesis in SCLC cells. Here we report further studies on the role of IGF-I in 2 SCLC cell lines: HC12, classic; and ICR-SC17, variant. Immunoreactive IGF-I was detected in medium conditioned by HC12 but not ICR-SC17. Both HC12 and ICR-SC17 bound IGF-I with 100-fold greater affinity than insulin. Scatchard analysis revealed two classes of IGF-I binding site of high (Kd 0.1 nM, n = 2,300) and lower (Kd 3 nM, n = 28,000) affinity. In both cell lines [3H]thymidine incorporation was enhanced by recombinant human IGF-I, 100-1000 ng/ml. ICR-SC17 also showed growth enhancement as measured by increase in cell numbers. There was no response in HC12, probably due to endogenous IGF-I production. 125I-IGF-I binding and basal and IGF-I-stimulated mitogenesis were inhibited by monoclonal antibodies to IGF-I (SM1.20B, SM1.25) or the type I IGF receptor alpha IR3 but not an isotypic control monoclonal antibody. Antiproliferative effects were manifest in [3H]thymidine incorporation assays in serum-free conditions and growth of serum-supplemented liquid cultures. We also tested fresh or newly cultured tumor cells obtained by fine needle aspiration of metastases in three previously untreated and four relapsed patients with SCLC. IGF-I binding sites were demonstrable on fresh SCLC cells, and specific binding was inhibited by SM1.20B. All seven samples showed stimulation of [3H]thymidine incorporation in the presence of recombinant human IGF-I, 100-500 ng/ml. As in cultured cells, basal and IGF-I-stimulated DNA synthesis was inhibited by monoclonal antibodies SM1.20B, SM1.25, and alpha IR3 but not the isotypic control. These results confirm the findings of previous studies and suggest that IGF-I can function as an autocrine growth factor in SCLC in vitro and possibly also in vivo.
IGF-1 concentrations were measured in plasma from 20 obese patients and 20 age- and sex-matched control subjects all of whom were fasting. Plasma IGF-1 concentrations were lower (p less than 0.05) in the obese individuals than in the controls. Plasma GH and insulin responses to stimulation with oral glucose were measured in 7 healthy normal weight individuals and both before and after energy restriction in 7 obese individuals. Before treatment the obese individuals were hyperinsulinaemic (fasting and integrated stimulated concentrations p less than 0.05) and showed attenuation of the plasma GH response to stimulation (peak and integrated stimulated values p less than 0.05 and less than 0.005, respectively) following oral glucose when compared to normal weight controls. Plasma insulin levels fell (both fasting and integrated concentrations p less than 0.05 and less than 0.005, respectively) and stimulated plasma GH responses increased (both peak and integrated values p less than 0.01 and less than 0.05, respectively) in the obese individuals following 3 wk treatment with a synthetic very low energy diet. Plasma IGF-1 concentrations remained unchanged during energy restriction. These results fail to support an endocrine IGF-1 mediated feedback inhibition on the hypothalamic-pituitary axis as the cause of the attenuated release of GH in obesity.
The diagnosis of non-islet cell tumour (hypoinsulinaemic) hypoglycamia has been complicated by contradictory biochemical evidence. Although insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) has been identified as the hypoglycaemic agent, plasma levels are often not elevated. In this study specific radioimmunoassay procedures for the measurement of IGF-I and IGF-II are described. Reference data on plasma IGF-II concentrations in relation to a wide range of IGF-I levels have been accumulated using plasma samples from acromegalic, hypopituitary and insulinoma (i.e. hyperinsulinaemic hypoglycaemia) patients as well as normal subjects from all age groups. The reference data indicate that a low plasma IGF-I value is normally associated with a relatively low plasma IGF-II level. Within a group of hypoinsulinaemic hypoglycaemia patients, a small number, invariably with evidence of a neoplasm, had low plasma IGF-I concentrations but apparently normal IGF-II levels. We propose that, in such cases, an apparently normal plasma IGF-II value is inappropriately high for the low plasma IGF-I level and, in association with non-ketotic hypoinsulinaemia and suppressed plasma growth hormone (GH), is diagnostic of a non-islet cell tumour as the cause of hypoglycaemia.
We investigated 24 hour growth hormone secretion by intermittent 20 minute blood sampling in 34 prepubertal patients with Turner's syndrome, aged 4.3-12.4 years. Growth hormone profiles were analysed by the PULSAR programme and results expressed as the sum of growth hormone pulse amplitudes. Six patients had abnormal growth hormone pulse frequencies. In the remaining 28, growth hormone pulse amplitudes declined significantly with increasing age, but there was no correlation between growth hormone pulse amplitudes and growth rates. Concentrations of insulin like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) rose with age but did not correlate with either growth rates or growth hormone secretion. Fifteen patients were given oxandrolone and 11 low dose ethinyl oestradiol. Both agents increased height velocity without increasing growth hormone secretion. We conclude that the relation between growth hormone secretion and growth in Turner's syndrome is less certain than in normal children. End organ resistance is probably due to a skeletal dysplasia. Both oxandrolone and low dose ethinyl oestradiol improve the growth of girls with Turner's syndrome, but their mechanism of action remains uncertain.