Growth hormone (GH) has been used for over 35 years, and its safety and efficacy has been studied extensively. Experimental studies showing the permissive role of GH/insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-I) in carcinogenesis have raised concerns regarding the safety of GH replacement in children and adults who have received treatment for cancer and those with intracranial and pituitary tumours. A consensus statement was produced to guide decision-making on GH replacement in children and adult survivors of cancer, in those treated for intracranial and pituitary tumours and in patients with increased cancer risk. With the support of the European Society of Endocrinology, the Growth Hormone Research Society convened a Workshop, where 55 international key opinion leaders representing 10 professional societies were invited to participate. This consensus statement utilized: (1) a critical review paper produced before the Workshop, (2) five plenary talks, (3) evidence-based comments from four breakout groups, and (4) discussions during report-back sessions. Current evidence reviewed from the proceedings from the Workshop does not support an association between GH replacement and primary tumour or cancer recurrence. The effect of GH replacement on secondary neoplasia risk is minor compared to host- and tumour treatment-related factors. There is no evidence for an association between GH replacement and increased mortality from cancer amongst GH-deficient childhood cancer survivors. Patients with pituitary tumour or craniopharyngioma remnants receiving GH replacement do not need to be treated or monitored differently than those not receiving GH. GH replacement might be considered in GH-deficient adult cancer survivors in remission after careful individual risk/benefit analysis. In children with cancer predisposition syndromes, GH treatment is generally contraindicated but may be considered cautiously in select patients.
Search Results
Margaret C S Boguszewski, Cesar L Boguszewski, Wassim Chemaitilly, Laurie E Cohen, Judith Gebauer, Claire Higham, Andrew R Hoffman, Michel Polak, Kevin C J Yuen, Nathalie Alos, Zoltan Antal, Martin Bidlingmaier, Beverley M K Biller, George Brabant, Catherine S Y Choong, Stefano Cianfarani, Peter E Clayton, Regis Coutant, Adriane A Cardoso-Demartini, Alberto Fernandez, Adda Grimberg, Kolbeinn Guðmundsson, Jaime Guevara-Aguirre, Ken K Y Ho, Reiko Horikawa, Andrea M Isidori, Jens Otto Lunde Jørgensen, Peter Kamenicky, Niki Karavitaki, John J Kopchick, Maya Lodish, Xiaoping Luo, Ann I McCormack, Lillian Meacham, Shlomo Melmed, Sogol Mostoufi Moab, Hermann L Müller, Sebastian J C M M Neggers, Manoel H Aguiar Oliveira, Keiichi Ozono, Patricia A Pennisi, Vera Popovic, Sally Radovick, Lars Savendahl, Philippe Touraine, Hanneke M van Santen, and Gudmundur Johannsson
Treena Cranston, Hannah Boon, Mie K Olesen, Fiona J Ryan, Deborah Shears, Rosemary London, Hussam Rostom, Taha Elajnaf, Rajesh V Thakker, and Fadil M Hannan
Objective
The autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 1 (APS-1) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterised by immune dysregulation and autoimmune endocrine gland destruction. APS-1 is caused by biallelic mutations affecting the autoimmune regulator (AIRE) gene on chromosome 21q22.3, which facilitates immunological self-tolerance. The objective was to investigate >300 probands with suspected APS-1 or isolated hypoparathyroidism for AIRE abnormalities.
Methods
Probands were assessed by DNA sequence analysis. Novel variants were characterised using 3D modelling of the AIRE protein. Restriction enzyme and microsatellite analysis were used to investigate for uniparental isodisomy.
Results
Biallelic AIRE mutations were identified in 35 probands with APS-1 and 5 probands with isolated hypoparathyroidism. These included a novel homozygous p.(His14Pro) mutation, predicted to disrupt the N-terminal caspase activation recruitment domain of the AIRE protein. Furthermore, an apparently homozygous AIRE mutation, p.Leu323fs, was identified in an APS-1 proband, who is the child of non-consanguineous asymptomatic parents. Microsatellite analysis revealed that the proband inherited two copies of the paternal mutant AIRE allele due to uniparental isodisomy. Hypoparathyroidism was the most common endocrine manifestation in AIRE mutation-positive probands and >45% of those harbouring AIRE mutations had at least two diseases out of the triad of candidiasis, hypoparathyroidism, and hypoadrenalism. In contrast, type 1 diabetes and hypothyroidism occurred more frequently in AIRE mutation-negative probands with suspected APS-1. Around 30% of AIRE mutation-negative probands with isolated hypoparathyroidism harboured mutations in other hypoparathyroid genes.
Conclusions
This study of a large cohort referred for AIRE mutational analysis expands the spectrum of genetic abnormalities causing APS-1.
Uta Neumann, Annelieke van der Linde, Ruth E Krone, Nils P Krone, Ayla Güven, Tülay Güran, Heba Elsedfy, Sukran Poyrazoglu, Feyza Darendeliler, Tania A S S Bachega, Antonio Balsamo, Sabine E Hannema, Niels Birkebaek, Ana Vieites, Ajay Thankamony, Martine Cools, Tatjana Milenkovic, Walter Bonfig, Eduardo Correa Costa, Navoda Atapattu, Liat de Vries, Guilherme Guaragna-Filho, Marta Korbonits, Klaus Mohnike, Jillian Bryce, S Faisal Ahmed, Bernard Voet, Oliver Blankenstein, and Hedi L Claahsen-van der Grinten
Objectives
International guidelines recommend additional salt supplementation during infancy in classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency. The influence of corticoid medication and growth has not been assessed.
Aim
To investigate the current use of salt supplementation, fludrocortisone (FC) and hydrocortisone (HC) dosage as well as weight, height, BMI and blood pressure (BP) in CAH children aged 0–3 years.
Methods
Retrospective multicentre analysis using data from the I-CAH registry. Salt-treated (ST) and non-salt-treated (NST) children were compared regarding FC and HC dosage, weight, height and BP at 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36 months.
Results
We analysed 2483 visits of 331 patients born after year 2000 in 13 countries (male, n = 145) with 203 ST patients (61%). NST children had significantly higher FC dosages at 1.5–4.5 months and higher HC dosages until 1.5 months of age. No differences in weight, length and BP between subgroups were observed. Children of the whole cohort showed increased BMI-SDS during the study period and about half of the reported BP readings were >P95.
Conclusion
In children treated with additional salt supplementation, FC and HC dosages are lower during the first months of life but without differences in weight, length and BP until 3 years of age compared to NST children. All children showed an increase in BMI-SDS and a high rate of BP readings >P95 until 3 years, indicating the start of weight gain and negative effects on blood pressure already in very early life.
Xiaoping Luo, Sha Zhao, Yu Yang, Guanping Dong, Linqi Chen, Pin Li, Feihong Luo, Chunxiu Gong, Zhuangjian Xu, Xu Xu, Haihong Gong, Hongwei Du, Ling Hou, Yan Zhong, Qiao Shi, Xuefeng Chen, Xiuli Chen, Liya Xu, Ruoqian Cheng, Chang Su, Yaping Ma, Lulian Xu, Lina Zhang, and Honghua Lu
Objective
To evaluate the safety and efficacy of weekly PEGylated-recombinant human growth hormone (PEG-rhGH) in children with idiopathic short stature (ISS) in China.
Design and methods
This was a multicenter, phase II study in which all subjects were randomized 1:1:1 to weekly s.c. injections of PEG-rhGH 0.1 (low-dose (LD) group) or 0.2 mg/kg/week (high-dose (HD) group) or control for 52 weeks. The primary end point was change (Δ) in height s.d. score (HT-SDS) from baseline to week 52. Secondary end points were height velocity (HV), bone maturity, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) SDS, and IGF-1/insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) molar ratio.
Results
A total of 360 children with ISS were recruited in the study (n = 120 in each group). At week 52, ΔHT-SDS was 0.56 ± 0.26, 0.98 ± 0.35, and 0.20 ± 0.26 in the LD, HD, and control groups, respectively (within-group P < 0.0001; intergroup P < 0.0001). Statistically significant values of ΔHV, IGF-1, IGF-1/IGFBP-3 ratio, and IGF-1 SDS at week 52 from baseline were observed in both treatment groups (P < 0.0001). There were clear dose-dependent responses for all auxological variables. PEG-rhGH was well tolerated throughout the treatment period with treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) reported in 86.5%, 84.6%, and 91.3% of children in the HD, LD, and control groups, respectively. The incidence of TEAEs was similar in all treatment groups despite the difference in doses. A total of 27 (8.7%) children experienced drug-related TEAEs.
Conclusion
Fifty-two-week treatment with PEG-rhGH 0.1 or 0.2 mg/kg/week achieved significant improvement in HT-SDS and other growth-related variables, including HV, IGF-1 SDS, and IGF-1/IGFBP-3 ratio, in a dose-dependent manner. Both doses were well tolerated with similar safety profiles.
Philippe Touraine, Yempabou Sagna, Anders F Mattsson, Pia Burman, André P Van Beek, Martin Ove Carlsson, Ferah Aydin, Ulla Feldt-Rasmussen, and Cecilia Camacho-Hübner
Objective
To analyze the effectiveness and safety of growth hormone (GH) replacement treatment in adult patients with Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) and GH deficiency (GHD) enrolled in KIMS (Pfizer International Metabolic Database).
Patients and methods
Patients with LCH and GHD were studied at baseline and some of them after 1 year of GH treatment. The effectiveness of GH is presented as change after 1 year of treatment (mean, 95% CI). The LCH population was compared to two other groups of patients enrolled in KIMS, granulomatous and lymphocytic hypophysitis.
Results
At baseline, 81 adults with LCH (27 with childhood onset, 56% females), mean age at GHD onset of 29 () years were studied. Diabetes insipidus was diagnosed in 86% of patients. Analysis of 1 year of GH treatment was possible in 37 patients. One-year cross-sectional values for the GH dose were 0.39 (s.d.± 0.21) mg and −0.5 (−1.2 to 0.2) for insulin-like growth factor-1 s.d. Total cholesterol decreased 0.9 (−1.5 to −0.3 (mmol/L); P < 0.05); AGHDA-QoL-score (n = 20) was improved by 2.8 points (−5.6 to 0.0; P < 0.05), while mean BMI increased 0.6 ± 3 kg/m2 (95% CI: −0.2 to 1.4). All these effects did not differ from the two other groups after adjusting for age, gender, and baseline values. In 20 of 77 patients included in the safety analysis, 36 serious adverse events were reported during 435 patient-years (82.8/1000); no new safety signals were reported.
Conclusion
After 1 year of GH treatment in patients with LCH, metabolic variables and quality of life improved, with no new safety signals.
Narayanan Kandasamy, Laura Fugazzola, Mark Evans, Krishna Chatterjee, and Fiona Karet
Introduction
Pendred syndrome, a combination of sensorineural deafness, impaired organification of iodide in the thyroid and goitre, results from biallelic defects in pendrin (encoded by SLC26A4), which transports chloride and iodide in the inner ear and thyroid respectively. Recently, pendrin has also been identified in the kidneys, where it is found in the apical plasma membrane of non-α-type intercalated cells of the cortical collecting duct. Here, it functions as a chloride–bicarbonate exchanger, capable of secreting bicarbonate into the urine. Despite this function, patients with Pendred syndrome have not been reported to develop any significant acid–base disturbances, except a single previous reported case of metabolic alkalosis in the context of Pendred syndrome in a child started on a diuretic.
Case report
We describe a 46-year-old female with sensorineural deafness and hypothyroidism, who presented with severe hypokalaemic metabolic alkalosis during inter-current illnesses on two occasions, and who was found to be homozygous for a loss-of-function mutation (V138F) in SLC26A4. Her acid–base status and electrolytes were unremarkable when she was well.
Conclusion
This case illustrates that, although pendrin is not usually required to maintain acid–base homeostasis under ambient condition, loss of renal bicarbonate excretion by pendrin during a metabolic alkalotic challenge may contribute to life-threatening acid–base disturbances in patients with Pendred syndrome.
Christopher J Child, Alan G Zimmermann, Whitney W Woodmansee, Daniel M Green, Jian J Li, Heike Jung, Eva Marie Erfurth, and Leslie L Robison
Objective
GH and IGFs have mitogenic properties, causing speculation that GH treatment could increase risk of malignancy. While studies in GH-treated childhood cancer survivors have suggested a slight increase in second neoplasms, studies in GH-treated adults have been equivocal.
Design
Incidence of de novo and second cancers was evaluated in 6840 GH-treated and 940 non GH-treated adult patients in the Hypopituitary Control and Complications Study pharmacoepidemiological database.
Methods
Evident cancer cases were evaluated in the main analysis, with sensitivity analyses including probable and possible cancers. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) for cancers were calculated using Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results for the USA and GLOBOCAN for all other countries.
Results
During the mean follow-up of 3.7 years/GH-treated patient, 142 evident cancer cases were identified, giving an overall SIR of 0.88 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.74–1.04); 95% CIs included the value of 1.0 for each country examined. The SIR for GH-treated patients from the USA (71 cases) was 0.94 (95% CI 0.73–1.18), and for non GH-treated patients from the USA (27 cases) was 1.16 (95% CI 0.76–1.69). For GH-treated patients from the USA aged <35 years, the SIR (six cases) was 3.79 (1.39–8.26), with SIR not elevated for all other age categories; SIR for patients from the USA with childhood onset (CO) GH deficiency (GHD) was 2.74 (95% CI 1.18–5.41). The SIR for colorectal cancer in GH-treated patients (11 cases) was 0.60 (95% CI 0.30–1.08).
Conclusions
With relatively short follow-up, the overall primary cancer risk in 6840 patients receiving GH as adults was not increased. Elevated SIRs were found for subgroups in the USA cohort defined by age <35 years or CO GHD.
Henrik Falhammar, Helena Filipsson Nyström, Urban Ekström, Seth Granberg, Anna Wedell, and Marja Thorén
Objective
Fertility in males with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is reported from normal to severely impaired. Therefore, we investigated fertility/fecundity, social/sexual situation, and pituitary–gonadal function in CAH males.
Subjects and methods
The patient cohort comprised 30 males, aged 19–67 years, with 21-hydroxylase deficiency. Their fertility was compared with age-matched national population data. For the evaluation of social/sexual factors and hormone status, age-matched controls were recruited (n=32). Subgroups of different ages (<30 years and older) and CYP21A2 genotypes (null (severe salt-wasting (SW)), I2splice (milder SW), and I172N (simple virilizing)) were also studied. Patients underwent testicular ultrasound examination (n=21) and semen analysis (n=14).
Results
Fertility was impaired in CAH males compared with national data (0.9±1.3 vs 1.8±0.5 children/father, P<0.001). There were no major differences in social and sexual factors between patients and controls apart from more fecundity problems, particularly in the I172N group. The patients had lower testosterone/estradiol (E2) ratio and inhibin B, and higher FSH. The semen samples were pathological in 43% (6/14) of patients and sperm concentration correlated with inhibin B and FSH. Testicular adrenal rest tumors (TARTs) were found in 86% (18/21). Functional testicular volume correlated positively with the testosterone/E2 ratio, sperm concentration, and inhibin B. Patients with pathological semen had increased fat mass and indications of increased cardiometabolic risk.
Conclusions
Fertility/fecundity was impaired in CAH males. The frequent occurrence of TARTs resulting in testicular insufficiency appears to be the major cause, but other factors such as elevated fat mass may contribute to a low semen quality.
P Clayton, P Chatelain, L Tatò, H W Yoo, G R Ambler, A Belgorosky, S Quinteiro, C Deal, A Stevens, J Raelson, P Croteau, B Destenaves, and C Olivier
Objective
Individual sensitivity to recombinant human GH (r-hGH) is variable. Identification of genetic factors contributing to this variability has potential use for individualization of treatment. The objective of this study was to identify genetic markers and gene expression profiles associated with growth response on r-hGH therapy in treatment-naïve, prepubertal children with GH deficiency (GHD) or Turner syndrome (TS).
Design
A prospective, multicenter, international, open-label pharmacogenomic study.
Methods
The associations of genotypes in 103 growth- and metabolism-related genes and baseline gene expression profiles with growth response to r-hGH (cm/year) over the first year were evaluated. Genotype associations were assessed with growth response as a continuous variable and as a categorical variable divided into quartiles.
Results
Eleven genes in GHD and ten in TS, with two overlapping between conditions, were significantly associated with growth response either as a continuous variable (seven in GHD, two in TS) or as a categorical variable (four more in GHD, eight more in TS). For example, in GHD, GRB10 was associated with high response (≥Q3; P=0.0012), while SOS2 was associated with low response (≤Q1; P=0.006), while in TS, LHX4 was associated with high response (P=0.0003) and PTPN1 with low response (P=0.0037). Differences in expression were identified for one of the growth response-associated genes in GHD (AKT1) and for two in TS (KRAS and MYOD1).
Conclusions
Carriage of specific growth-related genetic markers is associated with growth response in GHD and TS. These findings indicate that pharmacogenomics could have a role in individualized management of childhood growth disorders.
Sarah J Lewis, Debbie A Lawlor, Børge G Nordestgaard, Anne Tybjærg-Hansen, Shah Ebrahim, Jeppe Zacho, Andy Ness, Sam Leary, and George Davey Smith
Objective
Epidemiological studies have shown that low folate levels are associated with a high body mass index (BMI). These findings have potentially important health implications and warrant further investigation to determine whether a causal relationship exists and the direction of this relationship. The methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T TT genotype is associated with reduced folate availability and may be a surrogate for measuring folate levels. We sought to determine whether MTHFR C677T genotype was associated with obesity.
Design
We carried out our study on four populations from three longitudinal studies based in the UK and Denmark in which DNA for genotyping was obtained along with measures of obesity.
Methods
Our subjects were taken from the British Women's Heart and Health Study (BWHHS), the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (two populations: mothers and children) and the Copenhagen City Heart Study. We performed analyses separately by population, and then carried out a meta-analysis, combining similar populations.
Results
Initial findings in the BWHHS suggested that the TT genotype may be associated with an increased risk of obesity BMI≥30, however, no association was found with BMI or central adiposity in this cohort. This genotype was not associated with obesity in our other cohorts.
Conclusions
Our results suggest that the initial positive finding with obesity in the BWHHS was a chance finding. Our findings do not support a causal effect of low folate on obesity.