Evaluation of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) and retinol binding protein (RBP-4) levels in patients with newly diagnosed pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC)

Barbara Wlodarczyk; Anita Gasiorowska; Anna Borkowska; Ewa Malecka-Panas

doi:10.1016/j.pan.2017.04.001

Evaluation of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) and retinol binding protein (RBP-4) levels in patients with newly diagnosed pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC)

Pancreatology. 2017 Jul-Aug;17(4):623-628. doi: 10.1016/j.pan.2017.04.001. Epub 2017 Apr 4.

Authors

Barbara Wlodarczyk¹, Anita Gasiorowska², Anna Borkowska³, Ewa Malecka-Panas⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Digestive Tract Diseases, Medical University of Lodz, Poland. Electronic address: barrbara.wlodarczyk@gmail.com.
² Clinic of Gastroenterology, Medical University of Lodz, Poland.
³ Department of Internal Medicine and Diabetology, Medical University of Lodz, Poland.
⁴ Department of Digestive Tract Diseases, Medical University of Lodz, Poland.

PMID: 28499807
DOI: 10.1016/j.pan.2017.04.001

Abstract

Background/objectives: The elevation of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and adipokine retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP-4) is known to be associated with the risk of many cancers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the serum concentrations of IGF-1 and RBP-4 in patients with PDAC and chronic pancreatitis (CP).

Methods: The study included 43 patients with PDAC, 39 patients with CP and 10 controls. The concentrations of IGF-1 and RBP-4 were obtained using the ELISA method (Corgenix UK Ltd R&D Systems). The study protocol was approved by the Bioethics Committee at the Medical University of Lodz.

Results: In PDAC patients the serum IGF-1 level was significantly higher than in patients with CP (107.79 ± 66.40 ng/ml vs 89.91 ± 74.06 ng/ml; P < 0.05). Patients with both CP and diabetes mellitus (DM) were noted to have a significantly lower level of IGF-1 compared with those who only had CP (51.33 ± 24.30 ng/ml vs 108.42 ± 82.39 ng/ml; P = 0.01). The same result was obtained for men with and without DM (58.05 ± 32.44 ng/ml vs 98.79 ± 79.47 ng/ml, P = 0.05). As regards the serum level of RBP-4, the PDAC and CP groups were not significantly different from each other.

Conclusions: Diabetes accompanying PDAC does not influence the level of IGF-1 as opposed to diabetes in the course of CP. The IGF-1 level can be useful for early diagnosis of PDAC. High concentration of RBP-4 is not specific to pancreatic cancer, so it does not appear to be a useful biomarker for PDAC.

Keywords: Chronic pancreatitis; IGF-1; Pancreatic cancer; RBP-4.