PURPOSE To determine whether antagonists of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) and bombesin/gastrin-releasing peptide (BN/GRP) can inhibit the orthotopic and metastatic growth of PC-3 human androgen-independent prostate cancers. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN The effects of administration of GHRH antagonist MZ-J-7-118, BN/GRP antagonist RC-3940-II, and their combination on the growth and metastatic...

BACKGROUND Ghrelin and obestatin are two gut-derived peptides originating from the same ghrelin/obestatin prepropeptide gene (GHRL). While ghrelin stimulates growth hormone (GH) secretion and food intake and inhibits γ-aminobutyric-acid synaptic transmission onto GHRH (Growth Hormone Releasing Hormone) neurons, obestatin blocks these effects. In Humans, GHRL gene polymorphisms have been associa...

In 1977 C Y Bowers and coworkers developed a series of small peptides which stimulated in vitro the release of growth hormone (GH) from pituitary cells, although their potency was rather weak (1). Further studies based on conformational energy calculations in conjunction with peptide chemistry modifications and biological activity testing, led in 1984 to the development of several more potent p...

Peptide analogues targeting various neuropeptide receptors have been used effectively in cancer therapy. A hallmark of adrenocortical tumor formation is the aberrant expression of peptide receptors relating to uncontrolled cell proliferation and hormone overproduction. Our microarray results have also demonstrated a differential expression of neuropeptide hormone receptors in tumor subtypes of ...

Nutrition during the perinatal period programs body growth. Growth hormone (GH) secretion from the pituitary regulates body growth and is controlled by Growth Hormone Releasing Hormone (GHRH) neurons located in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. We observed that dietary restriction during the early postnatal period (i.e. lactation) in mice influences postnatal growth by permanently alteri...

BACKGROUND GH pulses are putatively initiated by hypothalamic GH-releasing hormone (GHRH), amplified by GH-releasing peptide (GHRP), and inhibited by somatostatin (SS). OBJECTIVE To ascertain how secretagogues control the waveform (time evolution of release rates) as well as the mass of secretory bursts. DESIGN We quantified the shape of GH secretory bursts evoked by continuous combined i.v...

Obesity is characterized by markedly decreased ghrelin and growth hormone (GH) secretion. Ghrelin is a GH-stimulating, stomach-derived peptide that also has orexigenic action. Ghrelin supplement may restore decreased GH secretion in obesity, but it may worsen obesity by its orexigenic action. To reveal effects of ghrelin administration on obese animals, we first examined acute GH and orexigenic...

I a recent issue of PNAS, Kiaris et al. (1) reported that JV-1-36, a growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) receptor antagonist, dramatically suppresses the proliferation of human small lung cell carcinoma cell lines grown in athymic nude mice and in culture. The antitumorigenic action of JV-1-36 is consistent with previous reports from the same laboratory demonstrating the effectiveness of th...

There is now wide consensus that, within an appropriate clinical context, GH deficiency (GHD) in adults must be shown biochemically by provocative testing of GH secretion and that appropriate cut-off limits have to be defined for each provocative test. Insulin-induced hypoglycemia (ITT) is indicated as the test of choice, and severe GHD, to be treated with recombinant human GH replacement, is d...

Prolonged critical illness is characterized by protein hypercatabolism and preservation of fat depots, associated with blunted GH secretion, elevated serum cortisol levels, and low insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) concentrations. In this condition, GH is readily released in response to a bolus of GHRH and GH-releasing peptide-2 (GHRP-2) and, paradoxically, to TRH. We further explored the al...