Skip to main content
NCBI home page
British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Ed.) logoLink to British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Ed.)
. 1984 Aug 25;289(6443):453–455. doi: 10.1136/bmj.289.6443.453

Circulating growth hormone releasing factor concentrations in normal subjects and patients with acromegaly.

E S Penny, E Penman, J Price, L H Rees, A M Sopwith, J A Wass, N Lytras, G M Besser
PMCID: PMC1442557  PMID: 6432140

Abstract

A highly specific and sensitive radioimmunoassay was developed for measuring circulating growth hormone releasing factor (GRF) in human plasma. Before measuring immunoreactive GRF plasma samples were extracted on to Vycor glass. Immunoreactive GRF concentrations in plasma samples from 37 fasting normal subjects ranged from less than 10 to 60 ng/l (mean 21 ng/l). Fasting concentrations in 76 out of 80 acromegalic subjects were within the normal range, but the remaining four patients had values of 92 to 25 000 ng/l. Of these, only the patient with the highest concentration had evidence of ectopic GRF secretion from a disseminated carcinoid tumour. Two of the others had longstanding pituitary tumours, and the fourth patient had a pituitary growth hormone (GH) secreting tumour proved by its removal and subsequent remission of acromegaly. There was no correlation between serum GH and plasma immunoreactive GRF concentrations, irrespective of whether the patients were untreated or had been given radiotherapy or dopamine agonists. The assay should help elucidate the physiological role(s) of GRF and may also prove useful in differentiating between pituitary and hypothalamic defects in patients with acromegaly.

Full text

PDF
453

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bennett H. P., Hudson A. M., McMartin C., Purdon G. E. Use of octadecasilyl-silica for the extraction and purification of peptides in biological samples. Application to the identification of circulating metabolites of corticotropin-(1-24)-tetracosapeptide and somatostatin in vivo. Biochem J. 1977 Oct 15;168(1):9–13. doi: 10.1042/bj1680009. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bilezikjian L. M., Vale W. W. Stimulation of adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate production by growth hormone-releasing factor and its inhibition by somatostatin in anterior pituitary cells in vitro. Endocrinology. 1983 Nov;113(5):1726–1731. doi: 10.1210/endo-113-5-1726. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bloch B., Brazeau P., Ling N., Bohlen P., Esch F., Wehrenberg W. B., Benoit R., Bloom F., Guillemin R. Immunohistochemical detection of growth hormone-releasing factor in brain. Nature. 1983 Feb 17;301(5901):607–608. doi: 10.1038/301607a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Brazeau P., Ling N., Esch F., Böhlen P., Mougin C., Guillemin R. Somatocrinin (growth hormone releasing factor) in vitro bioactivity; Ca++ involvement, cAMP mediated action and additivity of effect with PGE2. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1982 Nov 30;109(2):588–594. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(82)91762-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Brazeau P., Vale W., Burgus R., Ling N., Butcher M., Rivier J., Guillemin R. Hypothalamic polypeptide that inhibits the secretion of immunoreactive pituitary growth hormone. Science. 1973 Jan 5;179(4068):77–79. doi: 10.1126/science.179.4068.77. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Böhlen P., Brazeau P., Bloch B., Ling N., Gaillard R., Guillemin R. Human hypothalamic growth hormone releasing factor (GRF): evidence for two forms identical to tumor derived GRF-44-NH2 and GRF-40. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1983 Aug 12;114(3):930–936. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(83)90649-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Cronin M. J., Rogol A. D., Dabney L. G., Thorner M. O. Selective growth hormone and cyclic AMP stimulating activity is present in human pancreatic islet cell tumor. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1982 Aug;55(2):381–383. doi: 10.1210/jcem-55-2-381. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Drury P. L., Ratter S., Tomlin S., Williams J., Dacie J. E., Rees L. H., Besser G. M. Experience with selective venous sampling in diagnosis of ACTH-dependent Cushing's syndrome. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1982 Jan 2;284(6308):9–12. doi: 10.1136/bmj.284.6308.9. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Evans W. S., Borges J. L., Kaiser D. L., Vance M. L., Sellers R. P., MacLeod R. M., Vale W., Rivier J., Thorner M. O. Intranasal administration of human pancreatic tumor GH-releasing factor-40 stimulates GH release in normal men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1983 Nov;57(5):1081–1083. doi: 10.1210/jcem-57-5-1081. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Forsyth I. A., Besser G. M., Edwards C. R., Francis L., Myres R. P. Plasma prolactin activity in inappropriate lactation. Br Med J. 1971 Jul 24;3(5768):225–227. doi: 10.1136/bmj.3.5768.225. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Gelato M. C., Pescovitz O., Cassorla F., Loriaux D. L., Merriam G. R. Effects of a growth hormone releasing factor in man. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1983 Sep;57(3):674–676. doi: 10.1210/jcem-57-3-674. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Gomez-Pan A., Scanlon M. F., Thorner M. O., Rees L. H., Schally A. V., Hall R., Besser G. M. Effect of somatostatin on abnormal growth hormone and prolactin secretion in patients with the carcinoid syndrome. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 1979 Jun;10(6):575–581. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2265.1979.tb02117.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Gubler U., Monahan J. J., Lomedico P. T., Bhatt R. S., Collier K. J., Hoffman B. J., Böhlen P., Esch F., Ling N., Zeytin F. Cloning and sequence analysis of cDNA for the precursor of human growth hormone-releasing factor, somatocrinin. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Jul;80(14):4311–4314. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.14.4311. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Guillemin R., Brazeau P., Böhlen P., Esch F., Ling N., Wehrenberg W. B. Growth hormone-releasing factor from a human pancreatic tumor that caused acromegaly. Science. 1982 Nov 5;218(4572):585–587. doi: 10.1126/science.6812220. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. HUNTER W. M., GREENWOOD F. C. Preparation of iodine-131 labelled human growth hormone of high specific activity. Nature. 1962 May 5;194:495–496. doi: 10.1038/194495a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Mayo K. E., Vale W., Rivier J., Rosenfeld M. G., Evans R. M. Expression-cloning and sequence of a cDNA encoding human growth hormone-releasing factor. Nature. 1983 Nov 3;306(5938):86–88. doi: 10.1038/306086a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Rees L. H., Cook D. M., Kendall J. W., Allen C. F., Kramer R. M., Ratcliffe J. G., Knight R. A. A radioimmunoassay for rat plasma ACTH. Endocrinology. 1971 Jul;89(1):254–261. doi: 10.1210/endo-89-1-254. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Rivier J., Spiess J., Thorner M., Vale W. Characterization of a growth hormone-releasing factor from a human pancreatic islet tumour. Nature. 1982 Nov 18;300(5889):276–278. doi: 10.1038/300276a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Thorner M. O., Rivier J., Spiess J., Borges J. L., Vance M. L., Bloom S. R., Rogol A. D., Cronin M. J., Kaiser D. L., Evans W. S. Human pancreatic growth-hormone-releasing factor selectively stimulates growth-hormone secretion in man. Lancet. 1983 Jan 1;1(8314-5):24–28. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(83)91563-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Medical Journal (Clinical research ed.) are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES