Reference levels of insulin-like growth factor I in the serum of healthy adults: comparison of four immunoassays.
The measurement of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) has become an essential tool for diagnosing growth hormone deficiency and acromegaly, as well as for monitoring the efficacy of treatment in these disorders. The latter aspect gains significance in the light of epidemiological studies which indicate a relationship between IGF-I levels and the incidence of certain malignancies. We aimed to evaluate the performance of widely implemented IGF-I assays by testing four representative, commercially available immunoassays. Thus, four parallel determinations of the IGF-I levels of 427 healthy blood donors aged between 18 and 79 years were conducted. Apart from divergent performance criteria, the assays also differed systematically. These differences were, however, linear and of lower magnitude among the lower ranges. We conclude that despite the wide variance among commercially available IGF-I assays, which principally involve assay-specific normative data, each of the implemented assays was robust and thus an appropriate tool in the diagnostic work-up of growth hormone deficiency in adult life, when IGF-I levels are low.
Ranke
Michael Bernd
MB
Paediatric Endocrinology Section, University Children's Hospital, Tuebingen, Germany. michael.ranke@med.uni-tuebingen.de
Osterziel
Karl Josef
KJ
Schweizer
Roland
R
Schuett
Burkhardt
B
Weber
Karin
K
Röbbel
Patricia
P
Vornwald
Arnold
A
Blumenstock
Gunnar
G
Elmlinger
Martin W
MW
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay / Q000379:methods*; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values
D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I