Journal of endocrinological investigation
June 22, 2026 · via Europe PMC
Proteomic profile of bone in patients with acromegaly: new insights from a pilot exploratory study.
Demarchis L, Chiloiro S, Mattogno PP, +16 more, Iavarone F.
AI summary — for doctors, generated from the abstract only
The bone proteome in acromegaly differs from that in non-secreting pituitary tumors and correlates with GH and IGF-I levels.
What was studied
A pilot proteomic study of bone samples from 5 acromegaly patients and 5 patients with non-secreting pituitary tumors.
Key findings
- 6 proteins were up-regulated and 12 down-regulated in acromegaly
- Profilin-1 and periostin isoform 5 correlated positively with GH and IGF-I; caveolin-1 correlated negatively
- Apolipoprotein E correlated negatively with IGF-I
Clinical relevance
It offers clues to skeletal fragility in acromegaly.
Who should care
Limitations
Only 5 patients per group and exploratory.
No clinical action; continue assessing fracture risk in acromegaly.
This is an AI-generated summary of the published abstract, not a clinical recommendation. It may not reflect the full text or subsequent updates — verify against the original source before acting on it.
Abstract
Introduction
Bone metabolism is typically impaired in patients with acromegaly due to increased bone turnover, increased bone resorption, and impaired bone neoformation. The pathogenetic mechanisms underlying skeletal fragility in patients with acromegaly remain not fully clarified. We aim to compare the bone proteome of patients with acromegaly to that of a control group of patients with non-secreting pituitary tumors (NSPTs).
Methods
A Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry was conducted on ethmoid samples (after processing and digestion of the sample) of five patients with acromegaly and five patients with NSPTs, to identify and assay the proteome. Biological functions were investigated for proteins that were found quantitatively up- and down-regulated in the bone of acromegalic patients, with a ratio of variation based on Fold-Change (FC) >|1.50| and statistical significance (p-value < 0.05).
Results
312 proteins belonging to each group were identified. Six proteins with positive FC (up-regulated) and 12 proteins with negative FC (down-regulated) significantly differ in patients with acromegaly than in patients with NSPTs. Among up- and down-regulated proteins, profilin-1, isoform 5 of the periostin, apolipoprotein E, and caveolin-1 were known to be involved in bone metabolism. In our cohort, a positive correlation was detected between the profilin-1, the isoform 5 of the periostin, GH, and IGF-I levels; and a negative correlation was detected between caveolin-1 and serum GH and IGF-I levels, and with apolipoprotein E and serum IGF-I levels.
Conclusion
Our results proved that the bone of patients with acromegaly is characterized by a specific proteomic profile, which is closely correlated to GH and IGF-I hypersecretion.
DOI
10.1007/s40618-026-02936-x
PMID
42329359
PMCID
PMC13627165
Research metadata (titles, abstracts, authors, publication dates) is sourced from Europe PMC, which aggregates content from PubMed/MEDLINE, PubMed Central, and other providers under the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM/NCBI). NLM does not claim copyright on abstracts; the original journal publishers or authors may hold rights to the full articles. AI-generated summaries are derived only from the abstract, never the full text, and are always labeled as AI-generated.
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