Association Between Growth Differentiation Factor 15 (GDF15) and Glucose Metabolism in Patients With Acromegaly

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the changes of serum growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) and its influencing factors in patients with acromegaly, and to investigate its correlation with glucose metabolism. Methods: Sixty acromegaly patients were recruited from the Endocrinology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from July 2021 to September 2023, and thirty healthy persons matched in gender, age and body mass index as nomal controls were selected in the same period. To collect clinical and laboratory data, conduct statistical processing, and analyze the level changes and influencing factors of GDF-15. Results: Compared with nomal controls, the level of GDF-15 increased significantly in patients with acromegaly (P <0.05). After operation, the level of GDF-15 decreased gradually with the decrease of serum growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). The level of GDF-15 decreased significantly at 3 and 6 months after operation compared with pre-operation level(P <0.05); Compared with 3 months after operation, the GDF-15 level decreased significantly at 6 months after operation(P <0.05). In univariate linear correlation analysis the GDF-15 was positively correlated with GH, IGF-1, FPG, HbA1c, FINS, HOMA-IR (r=0.503, 0.623, 0.427, 0.476, 0.345, 0.419, P <0.05) and negatively correlated with HOMA-β, AUCINS(r=-0.342,-0.261,P <0.05) in pre-operation patients with acromegaly. Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that IGF-1,HOMR-IR,HOMA-β and AUCINS were all identified as the positive predictors of the serum GDF-15 in patients with acromegaly (P <0.05). Conclusions: The level of serum GDF-15 increased in patients with acromegaly, and decreased significantly after operation. The serum GDF-15 was closely related to glucose metabolism in patients with acromegaly.