Characterization of IGF-II Isoforms in Binge Eating Disorder and Its Group Psychological Treatment

INTRO Binge eating disorder (BED) affects 3.5% of the population and is characterized by binge eating for at least 2 days a week for 6 months. Treatment options include cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, and pharmacotherapy which are associated with varied success. Little is known about the biology of BED. Since there is evidence that the insulin like growth factor system is implicated in regulation of body weight, insulin sensitivity and feeding behavior, we speculated it may be involved in BED. METHODS A cross-sectional comparison was made between three groups of women: overweight with BED, overweight without BED and normal weight without BED. Women were assigned to Group Psychodynamic Interpersonal Psychotherapy. Blood was collected before therapy, at completion and at 6 months follow up for evaluation of IGF-II using Western blot. RESULTS 97 overweight women with BED contributed to the cross-sectional comparison. The two control groups comprised 53 overweight women without BED, and 50 age matched normal weight women without BED. Obese women had significantly lower Big IGF-II than normal weight women, p = .028; Overweight women with BED had higher Mature IGF-II than normal weight women, p<.05. Big IGF-II showed a significant decreasing slope from pre- to post- to six months post-group psychological treatment, unrelated to changes in BMI (p = .008). CONCLUSION Levels of IGF-II isoforms differed significantly between overweight and normal weight women. Overweight women with BED display abnormal levels of circulating IGF-II isoforms. BED is characterized by elevated mature IGF-II, an isoform shown to carry significant bioactivity. This finding is not related to BMI or to changes in body weight. The results also provide preliminary evidence that BIG IGF-II is sensitive to change due to group psychological treatment. We suggest that abnormalities in IGF-II processing may be involved in the neurobiology of BED.