Changes in profiles of circulating insulin-like growth factor components during hormone replacement therapy according to the responsiveness to therapy in postmenopausal women

Objectives: Objectives of this study were (1) to evaluate the changes in the profiles of circulating insulin-like growth factor and of insulin-like growth factor–binding proteins during hormone replacement therapy and their relation with responsiveness to hormone replacement therapy and (2) to investigate the relationship between the changes in these insulin-like growth factor components and the annual changes in bone mineral density in postmenopausal women. Study Design: Insulin-like growth factor and insulin-like growth factor–binding proteins were measured by immunoradiometric assay and Western ligand blotting in sera from 39 postmenopausal women treated with sequential hormone replacement therapy for 1 year. Bone mineral density at the lumbar spine and the proximal portion of the femur was determined by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Results: No significant change in the serum levels of insulin-like growth factor II and insulin-like growth factor–binding protein was noted during hormone replacement therapy in either the responders to therapy or the nonresponders (women with >3% bone loss per year), but serum levels of insulin-like growth factor I and proportions of insulin-like growth factor–binding proteins 1, 2, and 4 decreased during hormone replacement therapy only in the former group. Changes in insulin-like growth factor components during hormone replacement therapy did not correlate with annual bone mineral density changes. Conclusion: Profiles of circulating insulin-like growth factor I and insulin-like growth factor–binding proteins might be involved in responsiveness to hormone replacement therapy, but changes in these components during hormone replacement therapy do not predict annual changes in bone mineral density. (Am J Obstet Gynecol 2001;184:1139-44.)