Growth Hormone, IGF-1 and Medical Treatment in Acromegaly: Are There Effects on Gut Hormone Physiology and Postprandial Substrate Metabolism?
Growth Hormone, IGF-1 and Medical Treatment in Acromegaly: Are There Effects on Gut Hormone Physiology and Postprandial Substrate Metabolism?
Acromegaly is a rare hormonal disorder leading to increased morbidity and mortality. In the vast majority of cases, a pituitary somatotroph cell adenoma causes excess growth hormone (GH) secretion, leading to hepatic insulin-like-growth factor 1 (IGF-1) hypersecretion. Both the disease as well as its treatment with long-acting somatostatin analogs (LA-SMSA) and/or pegvisomant affect glucose and lipid metabolism, possibly contributing to increased cardiovascular risk.
In this pilot study, the investigators want to explore insulin sensitivity, postprandial gut hormone response, lipid handling and adipocytokine profile in the following 4 groups:
Furthermore, a longitudinal exploration will be performed in uncontrolled acromegalic patients (i.e. patients with serum IGF-1 levels above age-specific thresholds and/or symptoms due to active acromegaly (excessive sweating , arthralgia)) on LA-SMSA monotherapy (group 5). In this group, insulin sensitivity, postprandial gut hormone response, lipid handling and adipocytokine profile will be explored before introducing pegvisomant and three months after normalisation of IGF-1 levels.
The investigators hypothesize that lipid and glucose handling will be less efficient in the controlled acromegalic patients on LA-SMSA than in controlled patients on combination therapy or after surgery, and that there will be no difference in substrate metabolism between healthy controls and controlled acromegalic patients on combination treatment or after surgery. Further, they hypothesize that introducing pegvisomant in uncontrolled acromegalic patients will improve their postprandial lipid and glucose handling.
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