Association of Circulating Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 With Hepatocellular Carcinoma: One Cross-Sectional Correlation Study

Deregulation of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of several malignancies. This study aimed to investigate the association of changes in circulating IGF-1 with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The radioimmunoassay was used to analyze serum IGF-1 levels of 65 HCC patients and 165 healthy subjects. Serum IGF-1 levels were significantly decreased in the HCC patients as compared with the healthy subjects (158.46 +/- 105.07 vs. 247.63 +/- 149.96 ng/mL, P<0.001). Furthermore, insulin resistance was significantly higher in the HCC patients than the healthy subjects (P=0.027). In addition, the significant correlations of serum IGF-1 levels with age and insulin resistance in the healthy subjects were not noted in the HCC patients. Intriguingly, individuals with hepatitis C virus (HCV), not hepatitis B virus, had remarkably decreased IGF-1 levels in both groups of the HOC patients and healthy subjects. Moreover, in the HCV subgroup, serum IGF-1 levels were significantly reduced in the HOC patients than the healthy subjects (113.14 +/- 71.28 vs. 172.42 +/- 74.02 ng/mL, P=0.003). In conclusion, decreased serum IGF-1 levels were associated with HOC and the decrease was remarkably noted in those patients concomitant with chronic hepatitis C. J. Olin. Lab. Anal. 24:195-200, 2010. (C) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.