[Lowered ghrelin levels in acromegaly—normalization after treatment]

What Was Tested

This controlled clinical trial paper looks at Ghrelin and Octreotide.

Ghrelin has been found as a natural ligand of growth hormone secretagouges receptors (GHSR-1a) that exerts a marked stimulatory effect on growth hormone (GH) secretion.

It is also thought to be involved of eating behavior and control of energy homeostasis.

Who Took Part

The study group was 28 patients.

PubMed indexes the participants as adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

28 patients (17 women and 11 men) aged 47.7+/-11.4 years (mean+/-SD) with body mass index (BMI)=31.6+/-4.9 kg/m2.

Patients were divided into two groups: Group I-surgically treated (transsphenoidal surgery): 10 women and 7 men aged 45+/-10.9 years with BMI=31.3+/-4.9 kg/m2.

How the Study Was Run

Diagnosis was based on: 1/peak GH in oral glucose tolerance test>or=1ng/mL, 2/serum IGF-1 levels above normal for gender and age, 3/ pituitary adenoma in magnetic resonance imagining.

Criteria of good control of acromegaly were: 1/peak GH<1 ng/ml in OGTT, 2/serum IGHF-1 levels according to gender and age.

Control group-healthy subjects: 10 women and 19 men aged 47.7+/-11.4 years, BMI=25.6 kg/m2.

In patients before and after treatment and in healthy subjects fasting serum levels of total ghrelin, leptin, growth hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-1), glucose, insulin, total cholesterol and trigliceryde levels were measured.

HOMA index of insulin resistance was calculated.

What Was Measured

The patients and control subjects underwent assessment of body height, weight and BMI.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Acromegaly, Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal, Blood Glucose, Body Mass Index, Cholesterol, Ghrelin and Human Growth Hormone.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is a controlled clinical trial of Ghrelin and Octreotide in 28 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Results are reported in around 15 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2005 (Endokrynologia Polska), a journal based in Poland.

More context: the Ghrelin compound page and the Octreotide compound page, all human trials.