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Exposure to c-hGH did not increase risk for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s
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Despite the growing body of evidence surrounding cell-to-cell exposure of neurodegenerative disease-associated proteins, researchers found that a group of patients who received cadaver-derived human growth hormone did not appear to be at increased risk for Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. The findings were published in JAMA Neurology.
“To examine this issue, we first determined the potential exposure of cadaver-derived human growth hormone [c-hGH] recipients to non-prion protein neurodegenerative disease-associated proteins by evaluating sections of anterior (adenohypophysis) and posterior (neurohypophysis) human pituitary glands for the presence of pathological deposits of these disease proteins,” researcher David J. Irwin, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote.
Next, they looked at the frequency of neurodegenerative disease in c-hGH recipients worldwide within the literature and in the US National Hormone and Pituitary Program (NHPP) cohort database; focusing on Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, frontotemporal lobar degeneration and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Thirty-four routine autopsy patients (10 non-neurodegenerative disease controls, and 24 patients with neurodegenerative disease) and a US cohort of c-hGH recipients in the NHPP were included in study.
Data indicated mild amounts of pathological tau, amyloid beta and alpha-synuclein deposits in the adeno/neurohypophysis of patients with neurodegenerative disease and control patients. Furthermore, researchers reported no cases of Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease, but 3 deaths were attributed to ALS (among US NHPP c-hGH patients). This included two of the 796 descendents in the originally confirmed NHPP c-hGH cohort database, they wrote.
Therefore, the researchers report that this exposure did not increase the risk for Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease among patients receiving c-hGH. However, further research is needed to confirm these findings, and prospective monitoring of the patients involved is suggested.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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