Effects of rhIGF-1 on Bone Metabolism in Adolescent Girls With Anorexia Nervosa
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2011-10-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Adolescents and young adults with anorexia nervosa (AN) are at high risk for low bone mineral
density at a time when healthy adolescents are rapidly accruing bone, with implications for
peak bone mass and fracture risk in later life. They are also deficient in insulin-like
growth factor 1 (IGF-1), the bone trophic factor made in the liver in response to growth
hormone (GH), despite elevated levels of growth hormone. It is possible that deficiency of
insulin-like growth factor 1, a hormone very important for the maintenance of skeletal
integrity, may contribute to the severe osteopenia seen in anorexia nervosa. The physiologic
effects of recombinant human insulin-like growth factor 1 (rhIGF-1) treatment in adolescents
and young adults with anorexia nervosa have not been studied. The goal of this proposal is to
investigate the effects of recombinant human insulin-like growth factor 1 on bone density and
bone microarchitecture in adolescent girls and young adult women with anorexia nervosa over a
6 month period. We hypothesize that adolescent and young adult anorexia nervosa patients,
being insulin-like growth factor 1 deficient, will respond to exogenously administered
recombinant human insulin-like growth factor 1 with elevations in biochemical indices of bone
turnover and an increase in bone density and improvement in bone structure, or maintain bone
density (in contrast to the decrease in bone density expected in adolescent girls and women
with anorexia nervosa who are not treated).