The Relationship between the Growth Hormone/Insulin-like Growth Factor System and the Histological Features of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Figure 1.. The correlations between fibrosis and GH. (a) NAFLD. Patients with F4 had significantly higher levels of GH than patients with F1 to F3. (b) HCV. No correlation between the GH level and fibrosis was evident in patients with HCV-related chronic liver disease. GH: growth hormone, F: fibrosis stage, NAFLD: nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, HCV: hepatitis C virus. *p<0.01 **p<0.05.

Figure 2.. The sex- and age-specific correlations between fibrosis and GH in NAFLD patients. (a) Men of <50 years of age, (b) women of <50 years of age, (c) men of ≥50 years of age (d) women of ≥50 years of age. (a) Among the men of <50 years of age with NAFLD, patients with F2 had significantly lower levels of GH in comparison to patients of other stages. (b) Among men of ≥50 years of age, patients with F4 had significantly higher levels of GH than patients with F1 to F2 (b). Female patients showed a similar tendency, but the result did not reach statistical significance (c, d). GH: growth hormone, F: fibrosis stage, NAFLD: nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, HCV: hepatitis C virus, yrs: years. *p<0.01 **p<0.05.

Figure 3.. The correlation between fibrosis and the IGFBP-3 level, the IGF-1: SDS, and the IGF-1/IGFBP-3 ratio. (a) The IGFBP-3 level in NAFLD, (b) the IGFBP-3 level in HCV, (c) the IGF-1: SDS in NAFLD, (d) the IGF-1: SDS in HCV, (e) the IGF-1/IGFBP-3 ratio in NAFLD, and (f) the IGF-1/IGFBP-3 ratio in HCV. Patients with F4 NAFLD had significantly lower levels of IGFBP-3 and a lower IGF-1: SDS than in comparison to patients with F1 to F3 (Fig. 3a, c). Patients with HCV-related CLD did not show these findings according to the grade of fibrosis (Fig. 3b, d). The IGF-1/IGFBP-3 ratio was not correlated with the grade of fibrosis (Fig. 3e, f). IGFBP-3, insulin-like growth factor-specific binding proteins; IGF-1: SDS: IGF-1: standard deviation score, F: fibrosis stage, NAFLD: nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, HCV: hepatitis C virus. *p<0.01 **p<0.05.

Figure 4.. The correlation between GH and IGFBP-3 and steatosis in NAFLD. (a) GH and (b) IGFBP-3. Patients with severe steatosis (S3) had significantly lower levels of GH and higher levels of IGFBP-3 in comparison to patients with mild-moderate steatosis (S1-S2). GH: growth hormone, IGFBP-3: insulin-like growth factor-specific binding proteins, NAFLD: nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, HCV: hepatitis C virus. *p<0.01 **p<0.05.