Pagani Sara, Meazza Cristina, Travaglino Paola, De Benedetti Fabrizio, Tinelli Carmine, Bozzola Mauro
Dipartimento di Scienze Pediatriche, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Piazzale C Golgi 2, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
Eur J Endocrinol. 2005 Feb;152(2):207-10. doi: 10.1530/eje.1.01827.
The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of exogenously administered human GH (hGH) on serum levels of interleukin (IL)-4, IL-6, IL-12 and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha in GH-deficient (GHD) children.
We evaluated 13 short prepubertal GHD children, aged between 2 and 13 years, and 13 age-matched healthy subjects as controls. Circulating cytokine values were evaluated in basal conditions in all children, and 6 and 24 h following the 1st hGH injection (0.23 mg/kg per week), and then after 3 months of hGH treatment in GHD patients. Serum levels of IL-4, IL-6, IL-12 and TNF-alpha were measured by commercially available ELISAs.
No significant differences were found between controls and GHD children in basal values of serum IL-4, IL-6, IL-12 and TNF-alpha (P > 0.05 by Mann-Whitney U test). Analysis of cytokine levels during hGH treatment showed significant changes over time in TNF-alpha and IL-6 levels (P = 0.0014 and P = 0.00 024 respectively), with the more pronounced effect observed at 6 h following the first administration of hGH (i.e. increase in IL-6 (Wilcoxon matched pairs test, P = 0.0015) and TNF-alpha levels (P = 0.0015)). No significant changes over time were observed in IL-4 and IL-12 serum levels.
In vivo release of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-alpha can be affected by hGH treatment in GHD children, suggesting a direct effect of GH on the immune function.
本研究旨在探讨外源性给予人生长激素（hGH）对生长激素缺乏（GHD）儿童血清白细胞介素（IL）-4、IL-6、IL-12和肿瘤坏死因子（TNF）-α水平的影响。
我们评估了13名青春期前矮小的GHD儿童，年龄在2至13岁之间，并选取13名年龄匹配的健康受试者作为对照。在所有儿童的基础状态下、首次注射hGH（每周0.23mg/kg）后6小时和24小时，以及GHD患者接受hGH治疗3个月后，评估循环细胞因子值。采用市售酶联免疫吸附测定法（ELISA）检测血清IL-4、IL-6、IL-12和TNF-α水平。
对照组和GHD儿童血清IL-4、IL-6、IL-12和TNF-α的基础值之间无显著差异（曼-惠特尼U检验，P>0.05）。hGH治疗期间细胞因子水平分析显示，TNF-α和IL-6水平随时间有显著变化（分别为P = 0.0014和P = 0.00024），首次给予hGH后6小时观察到的影响更为明显（即IL-6增加（威尔科克森配对检验，P = 0.0015）和TNF-α水平增加（P = 0.0015））。IL-4和IL-12血清水平随时间未观察到显著变化。
hGH治疗可影响GHD儿童体内促炎细胞因子IL-6和TNF-α的释放，提示生长激素对免疫功能有直接作用。
