Insulin-like growth factor-1 activity is inhibited by interleukin-1 alpha, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and interleukin-6.

With evidence that several proteins inhibit insulin-like growth factor (IGF) activity, we evaluated whether cytokines, which are elevated in many catabolic states, also affect IGF-1-mediated proteoglycan synthesis. Cartilage from hypophysectomized rats was exposed to the cytokines interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) or interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the presence or absence of IGF-1. IL-1 alpha inhibited IGF-1-stimulated proteoglycan (PG) synthesis > 95% at 20 ng/ml (p < 0.01). TNF-alpha and IL-6 caused a maximum inhibition of 56 and 54%, respectively, both at 200 ng/ml. Only in the absence of IGF-1 did IL-1 alpha inhibit PG synthesis below unstimulated levels, suggesting that although IL-1 alpha can directly inhibit PG synthesis, IL-1 alpha, TNF-alpha, TNF-alpha, and IL-6 each promotes cartilage loss also by inhibiting IGF-1-mediated anabolism.