Abstract
Failure to thrive is a common manifestation of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in children. Given the role of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) in stimulating postnatal growth, we have examined whether HIV-infected pediatric patients with growth failure have lower serum concentrations of IGF-I than age-matched control subjects. IGF-I was measured in 16 HIV-infected children and 13 HIV-negative controls. Ten of the HIV- infected children failed to thrive based on height and linear growth that was below the National Center for Health Statistics 10th percentile. IGF-I levels were significantly lower in children who failed to thrive compared to those in age-matched controls (20 vs. 60 μg/L; P < 0.001). Children who failed to thrive also displayed lower IGF-I levels than HIV-positive children, who exhibited normal growth velocity (20 vs. 91 μg/L; P < 0.001). Failure to thrive was associated with a significant reduction in circulating levels of IGF-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3), as determined by ligand and Western blotting (P < 0.001), enhanced IGFBP-3 proteolysis (P < 0.001), and a decrease in the serum concentration of the acid-labile subunit of the IGFBP-3 ternary complex (P < 0.005). IGFBP-3 proteolysis was negatively correlated with IGF-I (r = 0.78) and IGFBP-3 levels (r = 0.70). Failure to thrive was associated with a reduction in the formation of the ternary complex, but the ternary complex could be restored by the addition of an excess of IGFBP-3 to serum. These results indicate that low levels of IGF-I, IGFBP-3, and acid-labile subunit are associated with a failure to thrive in HIV-infected children.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 2957-2962 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism |
Volume | 81 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1996 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
- Biochemistry
- Endocrinology
- Clinical Biochemistry
- Biochemistry, medical