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Updated: Jul 3, 2026
Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Observing Virtual Social Interactions
Published on: July 6, 2011
Association Between Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 and Social Cognition in Huntington's Disease
Cecilia Gil-Polo1, Saul-Indra Martinez-Horta2, Frederic Sampedro Santalo2
1Neurology Department Hospital Universitario Burgos Burgos Spain.
Background:
Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) seems to be involved in the neural circuits associated with social cognition and brain structure.
Objectives:
To investigate the association of IGF-1 levels with social cognition and brain structure in Huntington's disease (HD).
Methods:
We evaluated social cognition using the Ekman test in 22 HD patients and 19 matched controls. Brain structure was assessed using standard volume-based voxel-based morphometry and surface-based cortical thickness pipeline. We analyzed the association of IGF-1 levels with social cognition and brain structure using adjusted regression analysis.
Results:
Social cognition was worse in HD patients (P < 0.001), on antidopaminergic drugs (P = 0.02), and with lower IGF-1 levels (P = 0.04). In neuroimaging analyses, lower IGF-1 levels were associated with social cognition impairment and atrophy mainly in frontotemporal regions (P < 0.05 corrected).
Conclusions:
In HD, abnormal IGF-1 function seems to be associated with brain atrophy leading to clinical deficits in social cognition.
