A Study to Optimize Growth Hormone Dosing in Children With Chronic Kidney Disease by Measuring IGF-1 Levels in Blood
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2010-05-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Treatment with growth hormone (GH; a hormone made by the body that stimulates growth) has
been shown to be helpful in treating children with chronic kidney disease who fail to grow.
The amount of growth that is seen in children treated with growth hormone varies widely for
unknown reasons. Growth hormone works by producing another hormone in the liver called
insulin-like growth factor-1, or IGF-1 for short. IGF-1 stimulates the bones to grow. The
amount of IGF-1 in the blood may directly affect the amount of growth in each child. At this
time, growth hormone therapy in children depends on giving a certain dose of growth hormone
for each child based on his or her weight. If after 3-6 months on this dose of growth hormone
the change in height is not enough, then the dose of growth hormone is increased until enough
growth is seen. This method of dosing of growth hormone may take a long time and is
complicated and time-consuming.
The purpose of this study is to measure the amount of IGF-1 produced by the body as a result
of giving 2 different doses of growth hormone in children for 7 days only. The study
investigator hopes to find the most favorable level of IGF-1 generated after 7 days of growth
hormone that correlates with good growth of children with kidney disease. Then instead of
dosing growth hormone by weight, like is done now, researchers can dose growth hormone by the
amount of IGF-1 that the body produces. Being able to dose more effectively will save
valuable time for the child to grow and will shorten the overall duration of growth hormone
therapy.
The investigators will also determine the effect of inflammatory cytokines Il-6 and TNF-alpha
on growth hormone insensitivity and hence IGF-1 generation test in the same population.