@Article{,
AUTHOR = {Sara Pagani, Cristina Meazza, Paola Travaglino, Antonia Moretta, Mauro Bozzola},
TITLE = {Effect of growth hormone therapy on the proinflammatory cytokine profile in growth hormone-deficient children},
JOURNAL = {European Cytokine Network},
VOLUME = {16},
YEAR = {2005},
NUMBER = {1},
PAGES = {65--69},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/ECN/v16n1/66238},
ISSN = {1952-4005},
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.},
DOI = {}
}