PLoS ONE (Jan 2012)

A multi-cohort study of polymorphisms in the GH/IGF axis and physical capability: the HALCyon programme.

  • Tamuno Alfred,
  • Yoav Ben-Shlomo,
  • Rachel Cooper,
  • Rebecca Hardy,
  • Cyrus Cooper,
  • Ian J Deary,
  • Tom R Gaunt,
  • David Gunnell,
  • Sarah E Harris,
  • Meena Kumari,
  • Richard M Martin,
  • Avan Aihie Sayer,
  • John M Starr,
  • Diana Kuh,
  • Ian N M Day,
  • HALCyon study team

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0029883
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 1
p. e29883

Abstract

Read online

BACKGROUND:Low muscle mass and function have been associated with poorer indicators of physical capability in older people, which are in-turn associated with increased mortality rates. The growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor (GH/IGF) axis is involved in muscle function and genetic variants in genes in the axis may influence measures of physical capability. METHODS:As part of the Healthy Ageing across the Life Course (HALCyon) programme, men and women from seven UK cohorts aged between 52 and 90 years old were genotyped for six polymorphisms: rs35767 (IGF1), rs7127900 (IGF2), rs2854744 (IGFBP3), rs2943641 (IRS1), rs2665802 (GH1) and the exon-3 deletion of GHR. The polymorphisms have previously been robustly associated with age-related traits or are potentially functional. Meta-analysis was used to pool within-study genotypic effects of the associations between the polymorphisms and four measures of physical capability: grip strength, timed walk or get up and go, chair rises and standing balance. RESULTS:Few important associations were observed among the several tests. We found evidence that rs2665802 in GH1 was associated with inability to balance for 5 s (pooled odds ratio per minor allele = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.82-0.98, p-value = 0.01, n = 10,748), after adjusting for age and sex. We found no evidence for other associations between the polymorphisms and physical capability traits. CONCLUSION:Our findings do not provide evidence for a substantial influence of these common polymorphisms in the GH/IGF axis on objectively measured physical capability levels in older adults.