Serum myokine (myostatin and IGF-1) measurement as predictors in hemodialysis patients

Abstract

Background: Although individuals undergoing maintenance hemodialysis are a major sarcopenic population, there are few methods to assess their skeletal muscle mass conveniently. Here, we investigated the usefulness of serum myostatin and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) measurements for the evaluation of skeletal muscle mass. Methods: We examined 117 patients undergoing conventional hemodialysis. The serum myostatin level and IGF-1 level were measured once and compared to clinical parameters (especially skeletal muscle mass-related factors) in hemodialysis patients. Results: The myostatin levels were positively correlated with body cell mass, arm muscle circumference, basal metabolic rate, creatinine, creatinine phosphokinase, and albumin and negatively correlated with body fat rate, arm circumference-Arm muscle circumference, age, and C-reactive protein (CRP). The IGF-1 levels were positively correlated with body cell mass, body mass index, arm muscle circumference, arm circumference-Arm muscle circumference, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, protein catabolism rate, transferrin, cholesterol, and triglyceride, and negatively with age and human atrial natriuretic polypeptide. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that serum myostatin might be a useful biomarker for predicting muscle mass and serum IGF-1 might be a useful predictor of nutritional status in hemodialysis patients.