Open Access

ARTICLE

Effect of growth hormone therapy on the proinflammatory cytokine profile in growth hormone-deficient children

Sara Pagani, Cristina Meazza, Paola Travaglino, Antonia Moretta, Mauro Bozzola

Dipartimento di Scienze Pediatriche, Università degli Studi di Pavia, piazzale C. Golgi 2, 27100 Pavia, Italy

* Corresponding Author: M. Bozzola,

European Cytokine Network 2005, 16(1), 65-69.

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to establish whether growth hormone (GH) treatment in vivo affects pro-inflammatory cytokine production by resting or in vitro, activated, cultured, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from children with complete growth hormone deficiency (GHD). We evaluated 11, pre-pubertal children (6 males and 5 females) with GHD, aged between 6 and 14 years, and 9, age- and sex-matched healthy subjects were studied as controls (CTRLs). Freshly isolated PBMC were cultured for 4 or 24 h in X-VIVO medium in the presence or absence of 0.01 lg/mL lipopolysaccharide for the determination of TNF-α and IL-6 production; alternatively, cells were incubated 24 h in X-VIVO medium with or without 25 lg/mL Concanavalin A for IFN-γ production. Cytokines were measured in the cell supernatants by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. The results of the present study provide evidence that spontaneous and/or mitogen-induced, in vitro PBMC production of pro-inflammatory cytokines is lower in GHD children than in healthy, age-matched individuals (p<0.05 by the Mann-Whitney U-test). After 3 months of GH therapy, cytokine production was significantly (p<0.05 by the Wilcoxon test) increased, but was still lower than in healthy controls. It is reasonable to speculate that severe GH deficiency can cause alterations in the pro-inflammatory cytokine-induced immune response in humans, and that GH treatment can ameliorate this important immunological function.

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