Abstract
OBJECTIVE
Previous studies showed that insulin stimulated directly calcitonin (Ct) secretion in the pig thyroid, while dexamethasone stimulated the production of Ct and Ct mRNA in medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) cell lines. The objective of this study was to investigate if hyperinsulinemia during the oral glucose tolerance test (GTT) stimulates Ct secretion in normal subjects as well as to examine the relationship between serum cortisol and Ct.
DESIGN
In 26 normal subjects (9 men and 17 women) with detectable basal serum Ct, aged 22–70 yr [51.5±14.6 (mean±SD), median 55.5], we measured serum or plasma Ct, cortisol, ACTH, insulin, and blood glucose before (0 min) and at 30, 60, 90, and 120 min after ingestion of 75 g glucose.
RESULTS
During GTT mean serum cortisol increased slightly by 9.3% at 30 min, whereas mean serum insulin increased 9.4-fold, reaching a peak value at 60 min. Median serum Ct increased by 51% (p<0.001) in normal subjects (by 27% in men, p=0.004, and by 44% in women, p<0.001) at 30 min and remained significantly higher thereafter (up to 120 min) when compared to median baseline level. Regression analysis showed that basal serum cortisol, but not basal serum insulin, was correlated with basal serum Ct (p=0.01). Peak concentrations of Ct were also correlated with peak concentrations of cortisol at 30 min (p<0.001) but not at later time points. Serum insulin was correlated with serum Ct at the serum insulin peak level (60 min), and at later time points (90 and 120 min) (p=0.001). Multiple and simple regression analysis showed that calcitonin-AUC (Area Under Curve) values correlated with insulin-AUC (p=0.003), and also with cortisol-AUC (p=0.02) values, the standardized effect of insulin-AUC on Calcitonin-AUC being greater than that of cortisol-AUC.
CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that acute hyperinsulinemia during GTT is very likely associated with increased Ct secretion in normal subjects. Serum cortisol within the physiological range was also correlated with serum Ct under basal conditions, as well as during GTT.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Care AD, Abbas SK, Pell J, Seitz PK, Cooper CW, 1998 Stimulatory effect of insulin on calcitonin secretion. Horm Metab Res 30: 200–205.
Muszynaski M, Birnbaum RS, Roos BA, 1983 Glucocorticoids stimulate the production of preprocalcitonin-derived secretory peptides by a rat medullary thyroid carcinoma cell line. J Biol Chem 258: 11678–11683.
Cote GJ, Gagel RF, 1986 Dexamethasone differentially affects the levels of calcitonin and calcitonin gene-related peptide mRNAs expressed in a human medullary thyroid carcinoma cell line. J Biol Chem 261: 15524–15528.
Lazaretti-Castro M, Grauer A, Raue F, Ziegler R, 1990 1, 25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 suppresses dexamethasone effects on calcitonin secretion. Mol Cell Endocrinol 71: R13–18.
Papapetrou PD, Polymeris A, Karga H, Vaiopoulos G, 2006 Heterophilic antibodies causing falsely high serum calcitonin values. J Endocrinol Invest 29: 919–923.
Fernández-Real JM, Ricart W, Casamitjana R, 1997 Lower cortisol levels after oral glucose in subjects with insulin resistance abdominal obesity. Clin Endocrinol 47: 583–588.
Cakir M, Sari R, Tosun O, Karayalcin U, 2005 Cortisol levels during glucose tolerance test in lean and obese women. Endocr Res 31: 213–218.
d’Herbomez M, Caron P, Bauters C, et al; French Group GTE (Groupe des Tumeurs Endocrines) 2007 Reference range of serum calcitonin levels in humans: influence of calcitonin assays, sex, age, and cigarette smoking. Eur J Endocrinol 157: 749–755.
Stahn C, Buttgereit F, 2008 Genomic and nongenomic effects of glucocorticoids. Nat Clin Pract Rheumatol 4: 525–533.
Lu CC, Tsai SC, 2007 The cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase A pathway is involved in progesterone effects on calcitonin secretion from TT cells. Life Sci 81: 1411–1420.
Conte-Devois B, Morlet-Barla N, Roux F, Sebag F, Henry JF, Niccoli P, 2010 Could primary hyperparathyreoidism-related hypercalcemia induce hypercalcitoninemia? Horm Res Pædiatr 73: 372–375.
Clowes JA, Khosla S, Eastell R, 2005 Potential role of pancreatic and enteric hormones in regulating bone turnover. J Bone Miner Res 20: 1497–1506.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Polymeris, A., Papapetrou, P.D., Papandroulaki, F. et al. Hyperinsulinemia during oral glucose tolerance test and high normal serum cortisol are associated with increased secretion of calcitonin in normal subjects. Hormones 10, 304–312 (2011). https://doi.org/10.14310/horm.2002.1322
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14310/horm.2002.1322