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. 2016 Jul 29;11(7):e0160364.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0160364. eCollection 2016.

Circulating Levels of Irisin in Hypopituitary and Normal Subjects

Lara Pena-Bello  1   2 , Sonia Pértega-Diaz  3 , Susana Sangiao-Alvarellos  1   2 , Elena Outeiriño-Blanco  4 , Raquel Eiras-Leal  4 , Bárbara Varela-Rodriguez  1   2 , Paula Juiz-Valiña  1   2 , Miguel Pérez-Fontán  2 , María Cordido  2 , Fernando Cordido  1   2   4
Affiliations

Circulating Levels of Irisin in Hypopituitary and Normal Subjects

Lara Pena-Bello et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Context: The recently identified myokine irisin conveys some of the benefits of exercise. Hypopituitarism with adult growth hormone deficiency (HP) is a situation characterized by decreased GH secretion and an altered body composition.

Objective: Our aim was to study the skeletal muscle hormone irisin in HP, and compare the results with a similar group of normal subjects.

Participants and methods: Seventeen HP patients and fifty-one normal subjects of similar age and sex were studied. The diagnosis of GH deficiency was confirmed by the presence of pituitary disease and a peak GH secretion below 3 μg/L after an insulin tolerance test. The patients were adequately treated for all pituitary hormone deficits, except for GH. Fasting serum irisin was measured with an enzyme immunoassay, and HOMA-IR, QUICKI and HOMA-β were calculated.

Results: Fasting irisin levels (ng/ml) were similar in normal [208.42 (168.44-249.23)] and HP patients [195.13 (178.44-241.44)]. In the control group there were moderate significant positive correlations between irisin and BMI, waist circumference, leptin, fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, HOMA-β, triglycerides, and cholesterol. In the control group there were moderate significant negative correlations between irisin and IGF-I and QUICKI. In the hypopituitary group there were moderate significant positive correlations between irisin and body fat and HOMA-β.

Conclusions: We found similar irisin levels in GH deficiency hypopituitary patients when compared with normal subjects. The correlation between irisin and adiposity related factors suggests that that in the case of this clinical model, irisin is regulated by adiposity and not by GH.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Relationship between Irisin and other parameters by penalized regression splines.
Univariate generalized additive regression (GAM) models.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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