GH strongly affects serum concentrations of mannan-binding lectin: evidence for a new IGF-I independent immunomodulatory effect of GH.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Growth Hormone and Octreotide in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Studies in animals and humans indicate that GH and IGF-I modulate immune function.

In the present study, the researchers examined whether GH or IGF-I influences the serum concentrations of mannan-binding lectin (MBL).

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 16 men taking part.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults, men only.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

Because people in this Growth Hormone study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Neither the men nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Growth Hormone, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Some men received a placebo instead of Growth Hormone, giving a reference point.

Each person switched between Growth Hormone and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Acromegaly, Adjuvants, Immunologic, Carrier Proteins, Collectins, Growth Hormone, Haptoglobins and Hormones.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Growth Hormone and Octreotide in 16 men.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The publication is from 2001 (The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism), a journal based in United States.

More context: the related Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over) library page, all human trials.