I asked a few ferret vet experts if what was seen in this person might
also happen in ferrets and learned that Dr. Robert Wagner has
encountered some ferrets whose low blood sugar responded to GnRH
agonists.

Here is what i had asked them: Is there a chance that any of the male
ferrets w adrenal disease and related prostatic disease who appear to
also have insulinoma might instead have a process like this?

But now the question becomes whether levels of IGF II are off in such
ferrets.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25109918

Orv Hetil. 2014 Aug 1;155(33):1319-24. doi: 10.1556/OH.2014.29981.
[Insulin-like growth factor-II secreting prostate tumour causing severe
hypoglycaemi].
[Article in Hungarian]

Vadasz J1, Barta G1, Krasznai G2, Ludger F3, Zalatnai A4.

Abstractin English, Hungarian
The authors present a case of an 82-year-old male patient who presented
with frequent hypoglycaemia. Four years prior to the current evaluation
the patient had been diagnosed with prostate carcinoma; however, he
refused surgical treatment. Initial diagnostic tests indicated organic
hypoglycaemia with low serum insulin levels. Insulinoma was excluded
and further laboratory tests showed reduced serum insulin-like growth
factor-II and normal serum chromogranin A levels as well as normal
hypophysis and peripheral hormone values. The authors hypothesised that
the severe hypoglycaemia might be the consequence of synthesis and
secretion of insulin-like growth factor-II (or its prohormone) by the
previously diagnosed prostate tumour. Insulin-like growth factor-II and
its prohormone directly increases glucose uptake of the tumour, muscle
and adipose tissue, decreases glucose release from the liver and
downregulates insulin synthesis due to inhibition of the pancreatic
beta cells. The patient required continuous intravenous glucose
substitution initially with 5%, subsequently with 20% glucose infusion.
Administration of other agents resulted only in temporary improvement.
Prostatectomy was again considered but then excluded because of the
recurrent hypoglycaemia and the poor general condition of the patient.
Hypoglycaemia was finally controlled with glucose and diazoxide
therapy, but no improvement in the general condition of the patients
was observed and the patient deceased. Immunohistochemistry of the
prostate sections showed a carcinoma with strong insulin-like
growth factor-II staining, suggesting that insulin-like growth
factor-II-secreting prostate tumour caused the severe hypoglycaemia.
Orv. Hetil., 2014, 155(33), 1319-1324.

KEYWORDS:
insulin like growth factor-II (IGF-II); inzulinszeru novekedesi
faktor-2 (IGF-2); nem szigetsejttumor okozta hypoglykaemia; non-islet
cell tumor hypoglycaemia; prostate cancer; prosztatacarcinoma

PMID: 25109918 [PubMed in progress]

[Posted in FML 8173]