{"doi":"10.1210/clinem/dgac405","title":"The GH/IGF-1 Axis Is Associated With Intrahepatic Lipid Content and Hepatocellular Damage in Overweight/Obesity","abstract":"CONTEXT: Obesity is a state of relative growth hormone (GH) deficiency, and GH has been identified as a candidate disease-modifying target in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) because of its lipolytic and anti-inflammatory properties. However, the GH/IGF-1 axis has not been well characterized in NAFLD. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate serum GH and IGF-1 levels in relation to intrahepatic lipid content (IHL) and markers of hepatocellular damage and fibrosis in NAFLD. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 102 adults (43% women; age 19-67; BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2) without type 2 diabetes. IHL was measured by magnetic resonance spectroscopy; NAFLD was defined by ≥ 5% IHL. Peak-stimulated GH in response to GH releasing hormone and arginine was assessed as was serum IGF-1 (LC/MS). RESULTS: There was no difference in mean age, BMI, or sex distribution in NAFLD vs controls. Mean (± SD) IHL was higher in NAFLD vs controls (21.8 ± 13.3% vs 2.9 ± 1.1%, P < 0.0001). Mean peak-stimulated GH was lower in NAFLD vs controls (9.0 ± 6.3 vs 15.4 ± 11.2 ng/mL, P = 0.003), including after controlling for age, sex, visceral adipose tissue, and fasting glucose. In a stepwise model, peak-stimulated GH predicted 14.6% of the variability in IHL (P = 0.004). Higher peak-stimulated GH was also associated with lower ALT. Higher serum IGF-1 levels were associated with lower risk of liver fibrosis by Fibrosis-4 scores. CONCLUSION: Individuals with NAFLD have lower peak-stimulated GH levels but similar IGF-1 levels as compared to controls. Higher peak-stimulated GH levels are associated with lower IHL and less hepatocellular damage. Higher IGF-1 levels are associated with more favorable fibrosis risk scores. These data implicate GH and IGF-1 as potential disease modifiers in the development and progression of NAFLD.","journal":"The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism","year":2022,"id":243334,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":34,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9579,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2022-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":254443,"name":"Kathleen E. Corey","orcid":"0000-0003-2882-7264","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":389858,"name":"Melanie S. Haines","orcid":"0000-0003-1002-4754","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":875110,"name":"Mark L Chicote","orcid":"0000-0003-3155-2468","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":389857,"name":"Allison Kimball","orcid":"0000-0002-6750-644X","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":859229,"name":"Caitlin Colling","orcid":"0000-0001-9062-8667","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":109510,"name":"Tracey G. Simon","orcid":"0000-0003-0610-5287","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":305896,"name":"Michelle T. Long","orcid":"0000-0001-6131-3981","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":453250,"name":"Jad S. Husseini","orcid":"0000-0001-9360-7597","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":314302,"name":"Miriam A. Bredella","orcid":"0000-0001-5482-0440","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":389861,"name":"Karen K. Miller","orcid":"0000-0001-9438-2449","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":389856,"name":"Laura E. Dichtel","orcid":"0000-0001-6989-2308","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":70,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T00:23:16.032700Z","pmid":"35779256","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}