title: SomatoKine: is there a use in treating growth disorders?
abstract: Growth hormone (GH) has been used to treat GH deficiency since the late 1950s, and recombinant GH has been available since 1985. GH is also approved to treat non-GH-deficient short stature, such as that seen in Turner syndrome, chronic renal insufficiency, Prader-Willi syndrome, children who are small for gestational age, and idiopathic short stature. There has been interest in using recombinant insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) to treat short stature, either alone or in combination with its binding protein, IGF binding protein (IGFBP)-3 (SomatoKine). IGF-I increases growth velocity in children with IGF deficiency, either as a result of growth hormone insensitivity syndrome (GHIS) or IGF-I gene deletion. However, there have been adverse events, particularly hypoglycemia, reported with administration of unbound IGF-I. In addition, the serum half-life of unbound IGF-I is shorter when administered to patients with GHIS, who have low serum concentrations of its primary binding protein IGFBP-3 than when administered to healthy individuals or to patients with an IGF-I gene deletion (who have normal levels of IGFBP-3). SomatoKine was developed to prolong the half-life and to counteract acute adverse events (particularly hypoglycemia) associated with IGF-I administration. SomatoKine appears to have a longer half-life in patients with GHIS than unbound IGF-I and fewer adverse events (including hypoglycemia) have been reported when administered to patients with diabetes.
authors.affiliation: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Arkansas Children's Hospital, 800 Marshall Street, Little Rock, AR 72202-3591, USA. KempStephenF@uams.edu
authors.forename: Stephen F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Kemp
authors.forename: Kathryn M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Thrailkill
mesh_terms: D006130:Growth Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; C475619:somatoKine