Growth hormone is well known to cause changes in glucose regulation. People with Laron syndrome are born without the growth hormone receptor and are protected from diabetes. Mice who are engineered without the growth hormone receptor are similarly protected from diabetes. Conversely, people who have excessive amounts of growth hormone, such as patients with acromegaly, have an increased risk for type 2 diabetes. In acromegaly patients, treatment with pegvisomant, a medication that reduces insulin like growth factor-1 by blocking the growth hormone receptor, significantly improves insulin resistance. Pegvisomant has not been explored as a possibility for the treatment of type 2 diabetes or insulin resistance in people without acromegaly. In this study, the investigators hope to study the metabolic effects of pegvisomant on people who have insulin resistance but not diabetes. Pegivosmant is expected to improve insulin resistance in the liver, fat and muscle as well as decrease serum free fatty acids.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
6
Pegvisomant 20 mg subcutaneously Qday will be administered by the study subject for 28 days during this study.
San Francisco General Hospital
San Francisco, California, United States
Insulin Sensitivity
Investigators will measure insulin sensitivity via hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp prior to the initiation of the study medication and then again at the end of the 28 days to evaluate the effect of pegvisomant on insulin sensitivity and reported as HOMA-IR. HOMA-IR was derived from fasting insulin and fasting glucose by the calculation: fasting insulin (microU/L) x fasting glucose (nmol/L)/22.5
Time frame: 28 days
Lipolysis
Treatment with pegvisomant is expected to alter lipolysis. To assess this investigators will do fasting and steady state stable isotope measurements prior to treatment with pegvisomant and at day 28 after treatment with pegvisomant.
Time frame: 28 days
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