Effects of recombinant human growth hormone therapy on carbohydrate, lipid, and protein metabolisms of children with Turner syndrome

Objective: To study the effect of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) therapy on carbohydrate, lipid and protein metabolisms of Turner syndrome (TS).

Methods: Total 45 patients with TS admitted between Jul. 2008 and Jun. 2011 were involved in this study. All patients received the clinical evaluation of body fat, plasma lipids, proteins and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) before and after rhGH therapy.

Results: Our results indicated a significant decrease of body fat (FAT%) from 23.56±4.21 to 18.71±2.23 but no obvious change on the level of fat mass (FM) (p > 0.05) was observed after rhGH therapy. We also detected significant changes on plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) from (1.65±0.58 mmol/L) to (2.20±0.65 mmol/L) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDH-C) from (2.55±0.55 mmol/L) to (2.10±0.54 mmol/L) after rhGH exposure. However, no statistical significance was detected on the level of plasma triglyceride (TG), cholesterol (CHO). Interestingly, the levels of plasma retinol binding protein (RbP) (32.55±4.28mg/L), transferrin (TRF) (2.95±0.40 mg/L), serum albumin (PRE) (250.00±45.50 mg/L) and albumin (propagated) (33.58±4.25 mg/L) were significantly increased. When it goes to the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) test, there were 10 impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) cases among all patients before and after rhGH therapy. No significant change was observed on homeostasis model assessment- insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) level during rhGH intervention.

Conclusion: Abnormal lipid and protein metabolisms of the children with TS can be improved with rhGH therapy for 6 months.