Does the presence of cation-dependent proteases for insulin-like growth factor binding proteins alter the size distribution of insulin-like growth factors in pregnancy?
There appear to be at least three independent enzymes that are induced or activated during pregnancy to modify IGFBP-2, IGFBP-3 and IGFBP-4 sufficiently to prevent their detection by ligand blotting. However, this enzymatic processing does not alter the distribution of IGFs, suggesting that the altered binding proteins are still able to carry IGFs but with reduced affinity. Such an alteration in the carrying mechanism of IGFs may have profound effects upon the bioavailability of the IGFs to the maternal tissues and contribute to the altered metabolic demands of pregnancy.
The GNAQ mutation status is not suitable to predict DFS. However, the high frequency of GNAQ mutations may render it a promising target for therapeutic intervention.