Growth Hormone, Human

Night work has been associated with risk of breast cancer but this association needs to be confirmed. Because breast cancer is an etiologically heterogeneous disease, we explored the association of night work with breast cancer subtypes defined by tumor status (positive of negative) for estrogen-receptor (ER), progesterone-receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor-receptor 2 (HER2). Using the data from a case-control study in France including 975 cases and 1317 controls, we found that the odds ratios for ER+, PR+ or HER2+ breast cancers subtypes were significantly elevated, while no association with night shift work was observed for ER, PR or HER2-negative tumors. After stratification by menopausal status, the associations of night work with receptor-positive breast tumor subtypes were clearly seen in premenopausal women (odds ratios 2.04, 1.98 and 2.80, respectively) but did not appear in postmenopausal women. This study provides evidence that working at night may increase risk of ER, PR and HER2-positive subtypes of breast cancer particularly among premenopausal women.

The addition of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) to GnRH agonist (GnRHa) to treat central precocious puberty (CPP) is controversial. We systemically reviewed and evaluated the efficacy and safety of the rhGH and GnRHa adjunctive therapy in Chinese children with CPP and assessed the influence of age and therapy duration on the efficacy of the combined treatment. A total of 464 patients were included from 14 studies. Compared with baseline, administration of GnRHa plus rhGH led to a significant increase in height, predicted adult height (PAH) and height standard deviation for bone age (HtSDS-BA), corresponding to a weighted mean difference (WMD) (95%CI) of 9.06 cm (6.41, 11.70), 6.5 cm (4.47, 8.52), and 0.86 (0.58, 1.14) respectively. Subgroup analysis showed the combined therapy had increased efficacy in subjects with initial treatment age younger than 10 years old or with treatment lasting over 12 months. Compared with GnRHa alone treatment, the combined treatment led to a significant increase in height, PAH and HtSDS-BA, corresponding to a WMD (95% CI) of 3.

CONTEXT: Gamma-aminobutyric acid-B receptor 1 (GABABR1) forms a heterodimeric complex with calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) in human brain tissue. However, the expression and implication of GABABR1 in human parathyroid adenoma has not yet been examined.

Growth hormone (GH) exerts important biological effects primarily related to growth and metabolism. However, the role of GH signaling in the brain is still elusive. To better understand GH functions in the brain, we mapped the distribution of GH-responsive cells and identified the receptors involved in GH central effects. For this purpose, mice received an acute intraperitoneal challenge with specific ligands of the GH receptor (mouse GH), prolactin receptor (prolactin) or both receptors (human GH), and their brains were subsequently processed immunohistochemically to detect the phosphorylated form of STAT5 (pSTAT5). GH induced pSTAT5 immunoreactivity in neurons, but not in astroglial cells of numerous brain regions, including the cerebral cortex, nucleus accumbens, hippocampus, septum and amygdala. The most prominent populations of GH-responsive neurons were located in hypothalamic areas, including several preoptic divisions, and the supraoptic, paraventricular, suprachiasmatic, periventricular, arcuate, ventromedial, dorsomedial, tuberal, posterior and ventral premammillary nuclei.