Korean J Hepatol.  2000 Mar;6(1):52-58.

Clinical Significance of Growth Hormone, Insulin-like Growth Factor-1, and Insulin-like Growth Factor Binding Protein-3 in Patients With Posthepatitic Liver Cirrhosis

• Moon JH
• Kim DH
• An JK
• Lee JH
• Kang DH
• Song GA
• Cho M
• Yang US

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Although an Insulin-like growth factor-1(IGF-1) and an Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3(IGFBP-3) have been reported to be valuable indices of nutritional state in cirrhotic patients, there is still a dispute. The controversy may be caused by the fact that most studies included heterogeneous groups of patients such as alcoholic and posthepatitic cirrhosis. The aim of this study was two fold: to evaluate whether the Growth hormone(GH), IGF-1, and the IGFBP-3 are significant or not as valuable indices of hepatic function as well as the nutritional state in hepatitis B or C associated cirrhotic patients.
METHODS
This study consisted of 36 patients with liver cirrhosis associated with hepatitis B or C. Patients with alcoholic cirrhosis were excluded. The serum GH, IGF-1, and IGFBP-3 were measured while patients were fasting. The variables of liver function and nutritional state included Child-Pugh score, serum bilirubin, albumin, prothrombin time, triceps skinfold thickness(TSF), and midarm muscle circumference (MAMC). The correlation between the variables of liver function or nutritional state and the serum GH, IGF-1, or IGFBP-3 was evaluated.
RESULTS
The IGF-1 correlated very well with IGFBP-3 (p<0.001). Both the IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 correlated inversely with Child-Pugh score (p<0.01, P<0.001 respectively). IGFBP-3 correlated very well with the serum bilirubin level as well as the albumin level (p<0.001). Neither the IGF-1 nor IGFBP-3 showed any correlation with TSF or MAMC.
CONCLUSIONS
Both IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 were clinically significant as indices of hepatic function in the patients with hepatitic B or C associated cirrhosis but neither of them were significant as indices of nutritional state.

Keyword

Growth hormone; Insulin-like growth factor-1; Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3; Liver cirrhosis

MeSH Terms

Alcoholics
Bilirubin
Dissent and Disputes
Fasting
Fibrosis
Growth Hormone*
Hepatitis B
Humans
Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3
Insulin-Like Growth Factor I
Liver Cirrhosis*
Liver Cirrhosis, Alcoholic
Liver*
Prothrombin Time
Bilirubin
Growth Hormone
Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3
Insulin-Like Growth Factor I