World J Gastroentero
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World J Gastroentero · Jun 2002
The role of endotoxin, TNF-alpha, and IL-6 in inducing the state of growth hormone insensitivity.
Critical illnesses such as sepsis, trauma, and burns cause a growth hormone insensitivity, which leads to an increased negative nitrogen balance. Endotoxin is generously released into blood under these conditions and stimulates the production of proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-1, which may play a very important role in inducing the growth hormone insensitivity. The objective of this current study was to investigate the role of endotoxin, TNF-alpha and IL-6 in inducing the growth hormone insensitivity at the receptor and post-receptor levels. ⋯ The growth hormone insensitivity could be induced by LPS injection, which was associated with down-regulated GHR mRNA expression at receptor level and with up-regulated SOCS-3 mRNA expression at post-receptor level. The in vivo biological activities of LPS were mediated by TNF-alpha and IL-6 indirectly, and TNF-alpha and IL-6 may exert their effects on the receptor and post-receptor levels respectively.