Active clinical trials for "Dwarfism"

This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of recombinant human growth hormone injection in short stature children due to chronic kidney disease before transplantation.

This study aims to explore the optimal dose of pegylated recombinant human growth hormone (PEG-rhGH) injection to treat children with idiopathic short stature (ISS), evaluate its safety and efficacy, and provide scientific and reliable evidence for the medication dosage in Phase III clinical study.

Phase 1: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of 0.05mg/kg/d of rhGH (Jintropin®) in the treatment of children with idiopathic short stature (ISS) in 52 weeks. Phase 2: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of rhGH (Jintropin®) in the treatment of children with ISS in 2 years

This study evaluates the safety and efficiency of Pegylated Somatropin (PEG Somatropin) Injection in the treatment of endogenous growth hormone deficiency (GHD) in the broad population of children. Half of participants will receive the high dose, while the other half will receive the low dose.

We have recently demonstrated resistance to GHRH leading to GH deficiency in patients with Pseudohypoparathyroidism type Ia (Mantovani et al., J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2003. 88: 4070-4074). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of at least 1-year GH replacement in these patients. In particular, we will focus our attention on growth velocity in children affected with this disease.

Serum insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) measurements have been shown to correlate well with growth hormone action and effect, and recent data show that serum IGF-I may be related to safety and efficacy of growth hormone (GH) treatment in patients. Some studies indicate that high IGF-I levels are associated with increased cancer risk, and low IGF-I levels are associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Studies in children also show that the serum IGF-I level is correlated with the change in height score achieved (that is, the higher the IGF-I level, the greater the gain in height). Pediatric endocrinologists have therefore begun to use serum IGF-I levels, in addition to growth rate and weight gain, to adjust the GH dose in treated children. Although monitoring of serum IGF-I levels is becoming standard of care in patients begin treated with GH, there are few guidelines regarding the actual logistics of adjusting GH dose. As serum IGF-I level has been linked to both safety and efficacy of GH treatment, the ideal practice would be to maintain serum IGF-I levels within a certain target range. The overall goal of our study is to construct a mathematical model which predicts the change in GH dose necessary to achieve a desired change in IGF-I level. Hypotheses to be tested by our study include the following: IGF-I measurement has a role in optimization of GH therapy; GH dose change to achieve IGF-I changes are predictable; and gender and puberty affect the relationship between dose change and target IGF-I changes.

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the predictive value of IGF-1 generation test for growth velocity during GH treatment for 12 months.

CML is a myeloproliferative disorder defined by the presence of the Philadelphia chromosome, which arises from the reciprocal translocation of genes on chromosomes 9 and 22.It is rare in childhood and accounts for 2-3% of all leukemias in childhood. BCR-ABL gene on Philadelphia chromosome results in a 210kd fused BCR-ABL protein with constitutive tyrosine kinase activity, and subsequent activation of cytoplasmic and nuclear signal transduction pathways including STAT, RAS, JUN, MYC, and phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase. The ultimate result of such activation is the myeloid proliferation and differentiation and suppressed apoptosis. Children present with a higher WBC count, otherwise presentation is nearly identical to adults. Current treatment include tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) and allogeneic stem cell transplant (SCT).Imatinibmesylate inhibits the tyrosine kinase (TK) activity of BCR-ABL1 and several related TKs, including c-kit and the platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR). Development of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy has revolutionizedtreatment of CML. Imatinib or second generation TKIs (dasatinib or nilotinib) have become standard front-line therapy forchildren and adults with CML and are also important componentsof therapy for Ph+ acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). TKIs are administered orally and cause a number of side effects including fatigue, hypertension, rash, impaired wound healing, myelosuppression, and diarrhea . The overall toxicity of TKIs, while less life-threatening than conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy, nevertheless is common, and may require dose reduction.Recently, proposed endocrine-related side effects of these agents include alterations in thyroid function, bone metabolism, linear growth, gonadal function, fetal development, glucose metabolism and adrenal function. Growth impairment is one of the major adverse effect of long-term imatinib treatment in children with CML. Multiple case reports have demonstrated growth retardation in children onimatinib.Imatinibmesylate inhibits the TK activity of BCR-ABL1 and several related TKs, including c-kit and theplatelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR). It isthe inhibition of TK activity at the non-BCR-ABL sites that couldbe the likely cause for the adverse effect on growth. Severalstudies in adults have suggested that inhibition of c-kit,c-fms, and PDGF receptors results in modulation of bone metabolism. Other reports are focusing on disturbance of the growth hormone (GH) axis as a mechanism for growth impairment. Receptor and non receptor TK is expressed at multiple levels in GH-IGF-1 axis including GHRH-R, GH-R and IGF-1R. Inhibition of TKs with TKI, at any one of these level, might result in growth impairment. Various studies are available to show that Imainib therapy may cause short stature in children on prolonged treatment but exact mechanism by which this occurs is still not clear. Further, no treatment modality has been tried so far, for short stature in these children. So, the purpose of this study is to study GH-IGF1 axis in these children and to administer GH therapy to GH deficienct children in remission.

It is now widespread practice to treat children with short stature with growth hormone. However, how an individual child will respond to growth hormone treatment is unpredictable and highly variable. Some children will not respond to growth hormone treatment at all. Currently, the only way to determine how well growth hormone therapy is working is to wait until they have been treated for six months and to compare the pre-treatment growth velocity with the growth velocity on treatment. It would be helpful to have a blood test that could be done shortly after starting growth hormone that could predict whether how well a child is responding to treatment. Such a blood test would allow endocrinologists to adjust the growth hormone dose (or possibly stop it altogether, if it is not working) long before the six months it currently takes. C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) and its partner amino-terminal propeptide of CNP (NTproCNP) are proteins that play a critical role in regulating growth. The investigators have previously shown that blood levels of these proteins increase in children being treated with growth hormone. The investigators believe that a blood test for these proteins will be useful in predicting a child's response to growth hormone treatment. The purpose of this study is to determine when after starting growth hormone, the blood levels of CNP and NTproCNP start to increase.

Obesity, now a global epidemic, is a leading cause of illness and mortality in the developed world. To better understand the pathophysiological mechanisms that underlie weight disorders, increasing attention is being paid to central regulatory elements in energy homeostasis, including food intake and energy expenditure. The human hormone ghrelin is secreted as a preprohormone (preproghrelin), from which two hormones with antagonistic effects are derived: ghrelin, which has orexigenic effects and obestatin, which has anorexigenic effects. Ghrelin's actions are mediated by GH secretagogue receptor (GHSR). Ghrelin synthesis occurs predominantly in epithelial cells of the fundus of the stomach. . As the ligand for GHSR, ghrelin stimulates secretion of GH. In both rodents and humans, ghrelin regulates hunger though its action on hypothalamic feeding centers. Other effects of ghrelin include stimulating gastric emptying, positive effects on cardiovascular function, increasing intestinal peristalsis, and positive exocrine and paracrine pancreatic secretion. Despite its important physiological role, its precise regulatory mechanisms remain ambiguous. Thus, it has been suggested that mutations in ghrelin and its receptor will present clinically with obesity, eating disorders or growth disturbances. To date, only four different mutations have been reported in GHSR and no mutations have been found in the ghrelin gene. Working hypothesis and aims: We hypothesize that mutations in ghrelin or in its receptor, GHSR, affect appetite regulation and cause growth and eating disorders.