Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 Related to Chronic Low-Grade Inflammation in Patients with Obesity and Early Change of its Levels After Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy

Background Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) and insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP) have an influence on metabolism. However, changes in metabolism after sleeve gastrectomy (SG) are not clearly known. This study investigated the change in IGFBP3 levels in obesity after bariatric surgery. Methods We evaluated 36 patients with obesity (14 males, aged 31.36 ± 7.06 years and 22 females, aged 32.55 ± 11.40 years) at baseline and 3 months after SG. Changes in their IGF1, IGFBP3, and IGF1/IGFBP3 ratios and glucose-lipid metabolic, inflammation, and oxidative stress parameters were measured. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure their IGF1 and IGFBP3 levels. Results (1) IGFBP3 levels were negatively associated with waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio ( r = − 0.482, P = 0.043; r = − 0.503, P = 0.033); total IGF1 levels were negatively associated with body mass index and WC ( r = − 0.569, P = 0.014; r = − 0.470, P = 0.048); and free IGF1 levels were negatively related to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α level independent of age ( r = − 0.544, P = 0.020). Free IGF1 levels were negatively associated with uric acid, interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-8, and TNF-α levels ( r = − 0.646, P = 0.032; r = − 0.667, P = 0.025; r = − 0.641, P = 0.033; r = − 0.733, P = 0.010) and positively associated with superoxide dismutase activity ( r = 0.635, P = 0.036) in females; this relation was not significant in males (all P > 0.05). Total IGF1 was also negatively associated with C-reactive protein (CRP) level in females ( r = − 0.671, P = 0.024). (2) IGFBP3 level significantly decreased at 3 months after bariatric surgery in females ( P