Increased Serum Sclerostin Levels in Patients With Active Acromegaly.

Bone mineral density is normal in acromegalic patients and the cause of increased fracture risk that characterizes active acromegaly is unknown. This study compared serum sclerostin levels between patients with active acromegaly and healthy individuals. The serum sclerostin levels of patients with active acromegaly were compared with those of healthy volunteers in a cross-sectional study. The mean age of the 30 acromegaly patients (male/female: 14/16) was 47.26 ± 12.52 years (range, 18-64 years) and that of the healthy volunteers (male/female: 17/13) was 44.56 ± 10.74 years (range, 19-62 years). IGF-1 and GH levels were measured using an electrochemiluminescence method, and serum sclerostin levels using an ELISA. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare sclerostin levels between the 2 groups. The correlations of sclerostin level with IGF-1 and GH were determined using Spearman's test. The 2 groups did not differ in age or sex (P > 0.05). The median GH and IGF-1 levels in the patient group were 2.49 ng/mL (range, 0.22-70.00 ng/mL) (interquartile range [IQR], 1.3-4.52) and 338.5 ng/mL (range, 147-911 ng/mL) (IQR, 250-426), respectively. The median GH and IGF-1 levels in the control group were 0.95 ng/mL (range, 0.3-2.3) and 144 ng/mL (range, 98-198), respectively. The median sclerostin level was 29.95 ng/mL (range, 7.5-78.1 ng/mL) (IQR, 14.37-37.47) in the acromegaly group and 22.44 ng/mL (range, 8.45-36.44 ng/mL) (IQR, 13.71-27.52) in the control group (P < 0.05). There was a moderate positive correlation between the sclerostin and IGF-1 levels (rho = 0.54; P < 0.01), and between the sclerostin and GH levels (rho = 0.41; P < 0.05). High sclerostin levels may contribute to the increased fracture risk seen in patients with acromegaly.