title: Insulin-like growth factors in patients with liver cysts.
abstract: Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) play an important role in cell growth and differentiation, and the liver is the main source of IGFs and IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs) that appear in the circulation. The effect of liver cysts on the circulating IGF system was studied in this work. Serum concentrations of IGF-I and -II were measured by radioimmunoassay, IGFBP patterns were characterised by ligand-affinity and immunoblotting, and a lectin-binding assay was used to investigate the glyco component of IGFBP-3 complexes. IGF-I and -II concentrations in patients with cysts were significantly lower compared to those in healthy individuals (P<0.0001 and P<0.01, respectively), and the decrease was related to age but not sex. The overall mean concentrations of IGF-I and -II were not significantly different whether the cysts were caused by Echinococcus granulosus, cross-reactive pathologies, or some other factor. IGFBP profiles correlated with the amount of IGF present: patients with lower IGF-I concentrations expressed decreased IGFBP-3 and elevated IGFBP-2 levels. Increased IGFBP-3 proteolytic activity in the patients' blood was not detected by immunoblotting. In the lectin-binding assay, IGFBP-3 complexes in the circulation of patients demonstrated reactivity similar to that in healthy persons, suggesting that the overall structure of the saccharide moieties of the IGFBP-3 complexes was not significantly altered due to liver cyst formation.
authors.affiliation: Institute for the Application of Nuclear Energy (INEP), Banatska 31b, 11080 Belgrade-Zemun, Serbia and Montenegro. olgica@inep.co.yu
authors.forename: Olgica
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Nedić
authors.forename: J Anna
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Nikolić
authors.forename: Ivona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Baricević
authors.forename: Biljana
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jovanović
authors.forename: Natasa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ilić
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003560:Cysts / Q000097:blood* / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018969:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Proteins / Q000097:blood; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000032:analysis*; D007335:Insulin-Like Growth Factor II / Q000032:analysis*; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000097:blood*; D008109:Liver Diseases, Parasitic / Q000175:diagnosis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012698:Serologic Tests
chemical_list: D018969:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Proteins; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I; D007335:Insulin-Like Growth Factor II