Abstract
Background Liver-derived insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) contributes bone formation. Decreased IGF-1 levels are common in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), but whether IGF-1 is related to sex and differ during the pathogenic progress of JIA is unknown. Objective The aim of this study was to examine IGF-1 levels in boys and girls with newly diagnosed JIA, with established JIA and in controls. Methods The study group included 131 patients from the Estonian population-based prevalence JIA study. Blood samples were obtained from 27 boys and 38 girls with early JIA (≤1 month from the diagnosis), 29 boys and 36 girls with established JIA (mean disease duration 18 months), and from 47 age- and sex-matched controls. Results IGF-1 levels in boys were significantly decreased in early JIA compared to male controls, while IGF-1 levels in girls were comparable between JIA and controls. In early JIA, IGF-1 levels were 12-fold lower in boys relative to girls. In controls, IGF-1 levels correlated with both age and height, while these correlations were lost in boys with early JIA. Conclusion We report a sex-dependent deficiency in serum IGF-1 in boys with early JIA, which argues for sex-related differences in biological mechanisms involved in the disease pathogenesis.
Highlights
The term juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) comprises a number of chronic inflammatory disorders with onset before 16 years of age with symptoms presenting for longer than six weeks
There was a lower prevalence of persistent oligoarthritis (P = 0 004) and a higher prevalence of enthesitis-related arthritis (P = 0 02) in the early JIA group compared to established JIA
We investigated whether serum insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) was associated with disease-related variables in early JIA by the use of multivariate factor analysis
Summary
The term juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) comprises a number of chronic inflammatory disorders with onset before 16 years of age with symptoms presenting for longer than six weeks. Distinct distributions regarding age at onset and sex of the child, as well as the course of the disease and outcome, vary between the different categories [3, 4]. Decreased IGF-1 levels are common in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), but whether IGF-1 is related to sex and differ during the pathogenic progress of JIA is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine IGF-1 levels in boys and girls with newly diagnosed JIA, with established JIA and in controls. IGF-1 levels correlated with both age and height, while these correlations were lost in boys with early JIA. We report a sex-dependent deficiency in serum IGF-1 in boys with early JIA, which argues for sex-related differences in biological mechanisms involved in the disease pathogenesis
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