Rapid publication: Hypocalcemic actions of amylin amide in humans

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Abstract
Amylin (also known as islet amyloid polypeptide and diabetes‐associated peptide) has recently been shown by us to have a potent hypocalcemic effect in rat and rabbit owing to inhibition of osteoclast‐mediated bone resorption. The hypocalcemic potency of amylin was found to be second only to that of calcitonin (CT) and is 100‐fold more potent than calcitonin gene‐related peptide. Here we demonstrate that amylin has a hypocalcemic effect in patients with Paget's disease of bone. Both human CT (hCT) and amylin induced a maximum hypocalcemic effect 2 h following intravenous administration of the peptides (p < 0.001). Although on a molar basis amylin is less potent than CT, it exhibits a significantly prolonged hypocalcemic effect compared to hCT. Here we demonstrate for the first time a profound hypocalcemic effect of amylin in the human, despite sharing only 15% amino acid sequence identity with hCT.
Funding Information
  • British Heart and Mason Medical Research Foundations
  • Leverhulme Trust
  • Oliver Bird Fund