Effects of growth hormone treatment on inflammatory and other cardiovascular risk markers in adults with growth hormone deficiency

To investigate the effect of growth hormone replacement (GHR) on inflammatory and other cardiovascular risk factors in adults with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) we determined soluble P-Selektin, sE-selectin, GRO-α, RANTES, PAI, IL-6, CrP, sICAM and sVCAM before and 12 as well as 18 months after GHR. Furthermore we correlated these levels to BMI, lipid parameters and serum leptin values. The GHR therapy was dose adjusted to age adapted serum insulin-like growth factor I levels. We investigated 30 adults with GHD (male:female=13:17; mean age:45.9±13.8 years). After 12 month GHR the patients showed a decrease of BMI (p=0.001), cholesterol (p=0.0001) and trigyceride (p=0.04). We detected no significant changes of sVCAM, sP-selectin, GRO-α or RANTES levels during therapy. However, patients showed a significant decrease for sE-selectin (p=0.04), sICAM (p=0.024), PAI (p=0.006), IL-6 (p=0.0001) and CrP (p=0.007) values without further changes after 18 months treatment. This decrease was significantly correlated to a decrease of leptin (CrP: r=0.4, p=0.06; sE-selectin: r=0.4, p=0.03, PAI: r=0.4, p=0.08) and cholesterol (IL-6: r=0.6, p=0.001). In conclusion, GHR in adults reduces levels of inflammatory cardiovascular risk markers. This effect seems to be correlated with a decrease of lipids, body weight and leptin values.