The Effects of Growth Hormone Therapy on Spontaneous Sexual Development

Abstract

We have carried out a prospective randomised study in 52 (46 male, 6 female) children with isolated growth hormone (GH) deficiency treated with a GH regimen of 15 IU/m²/week administered as a daily subcutaneous injection. At the onset of the pubertal growth spurt, the patients were randomised to receive either an unaltered regimen (26 males, 1 female) or 30 IU/m²/week (20 males, 5 females). There was no change in the frequency of GH administration. The number of females in this study was too small to give a meaningful result. In contrast, the boys treated with either dose regimen showed no significant alteration in growth rate, but there was a faster than normal progression in pubertal maturation. It is concluded that the optimum final height of children with isolated GH deficiency may not be achieved in patients without the therapeutic manipulation of the onset and/or duration of puberty. 16 short normal children (9 males, 7 females) were treated with GH in a regimen of 25 IU/m²/week (range: 20-30) as a daily subcutaneous injection. The mean age for the onset of GH treatment was 11.5 and 11.0 years in the boys and girls, respectively. Our data suggest that both boys and girls had a more rapid rate of pubertal maturation than normal. It may be that in terms of final height prognosis, the events of puberty related to GH treatment counterbalance the improvement in growth prognosis during prepuberty.

Effects of Growth Hormone and Insulin-Like Growth Factor I on Testosterone Secretion in Premature Male Rats.

“…According to recent clinical studies, GH treatment promotes the onset of puberty or accelerates the progression of pubertal maturation [8][9][10]. However, it is still under debate whether GH directly stimulates the gonads and promotes the gonadal maturation at prepubertal stage.…”

Sensing of mammalian IL-17A regulates fungal adaptation and virulence

“…We cultured Candida cells in an amino-acid-rich liquid medium (RPMI-1640), which is generally considered to be a physiologically relevant environment 11 -at 37 °C for 24 h or under conditions of biofilm formation. IL-17A was added at concentrations of 1 or 10 ng ml − 1 , and cells were examined by light or scanning electron microscopy (SEM) (Supplementary Methods) at different times.…”

Growth hormone: roles in female reproduction

“…Puberty is similarly delayed in a large proportion of GH receptor (GHR)-knockout mice (Bartke et al 1999), GH-resistant women (Laron 1984) and GH-releasing hormone (GHRH)-immunized cattle (Simpson et al 1991). The importance of GH in sexual maturation is further demonstrated by the ability of exogenous GH to accelerate sexual maturation in GHreplete monkeys (Wilson et al 1989) and GH-deficient children (Darendeliler et al 1990, Stanhope et al 1992. GH may accelerate puberty by activating the luteinizing hormone (LH)-releasing hormone pulse generator (Bartke et al 1999) and/or by potentiating androgen action (Ilondo et al 1982).…”