Association Between Insulin‐Like Growth Factor‐1 and Social Cognition in Huntington's Disease

BACKGROUND: Insulin‐like growth factor 1 (IGF‐1) seems to be involved in the neural circuits associated with social cognition and brain structure. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association of IGF‐1 levels with social cognition and brain structure in Huntington's disease (HD). METHODS: We evaluated social cognition using the Ekman test in 22 HD patients and 19 matched controls. Brain structure was assessed using standard volume‐based voxel‐based morphometry and surface‐based cortical thickness pipeline. We analyzed the association of IGF‐1 levels with social cognition and brain structure using adjusted regression analysis. RESULTS: Social cognition was worse in HD patients (P < 0.001), on antidopaminergic drugs (P = 0.02), and with lower IGF‐1 levels (P = 0.04). In neuroimaging analyses, lower IGF‐1 levels were associated with social cognition impairment and atrophy mainly in frontotemporal regions (P < 0.05 corrected). CONCLUSIONS: In HD, abnormal IGF‐1 function seems to be associated with brain atrophy leading to clinical deficits in social cognition.