The effects of GH and hormone replacement therapy on serum concentrations of mannan-binding lectin, surfactant protein D and vitamin D binding protein in Turner syndrome.

What Was Tested

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

Studies in animals and humans indicate that growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) modulate immune function.

The effect on MBL was thought to be due to a specific action of GH, since IGF-I treatment did not affect MBL.

Whether it is advantageous or not to have high or low levels of MBL is not known.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 12 adolescents were involved.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were children, teenagers, adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, women only.

Study 2: triple-blind crossover study of 9 healthy TS adolescents randomized to treatment with placebo, GH or GH+17beta-estradiol.

Study 3: 60 adult TS patients (55 received HRT) compared with 59 age-matched controls.

How the Study Was Run

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

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

As a double-blind Human Growth Hormone study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Human Growth Hormone could be set against what happens without it.

In the crossover set-up each of the adolescents took both Human Growth Hormone and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

Study 4: 27 patients with TS were examined before and during sex hormone replacement with 17beta-estradiol and norethisterone and compared with age-matched controls (n=24).

Measurement of MBL, SP-D, DBP, and other inflammation markers.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include C-Reactive Protein, Estradiol, Estrogen Replacement Therapy, Haptoglobins, Human Growth Hormone, Mannose-Binding Lectin and Norethindrone.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Human Growth Hormone and Estradiol in 12 adolescents.

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.

Its findings take up roughly 9 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2004 (European journal of endocrinology), a journal based in England.

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