Effects of nutrient intake on growth, insulin-like growth factors, and their binding proteins in a Laron-type dwarf

In Laron-type dwarfism, a basal growth rate independent of GH and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) is maintained. This represents a unique model to further assess the relationship between growth and nutritional status. In a child aged 3 yr, 7 months with severe anorexia, growth was followed in relation to his caloric intake. While receiving 496 Cal/day with 11.6 g/day protein, he grew at a rate of 2 cm/yr (period I). The mean plasma IGF-I level was below 0.07 U/mL, insulin was 3.8 +/- 0.2 microU/mL, and blood glucose was 2.9 +/- 0.3 mM/L. During moderate hyperalimentation with 1280 Cal/day and 38.3 g/day protein (period II) for 7 months, growth rate increased to 9 cm/yr with no significant change in plasma IGF-I and persistence of relative hypoinsulinemia (low response to oral glucose tolerance test). IGF-binding proteins, analyzed by Western ligand blotting, showed that 41.5- and 38.5-kilodalton forms, which were initially low, increased to form a pattern similar to that observed in hypopituitarism. These results suggest that catch-up growth did not require normal circulating GH and/or IGF-I activity. Therefore, nutrition contributes to catch-up growth and achievement of potential statural growth by a distinct cellular effect.