Growth Hormone and Insulin Reverse Net Whole Body and Skeletal Muscle Protein Catabolism in Cancer Patients

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Abstract
The authors examined the effect of recombinant-human growth hormone (r-hGH) and insulin (INS) administration on protein kinetics in cancer patients. Twenty-eight cancer patients either received r-hGH for 3 days (GH group, n = 12, weight loss = 6 ± 2%) or were not treated (control [CTL] group, n = 16, weight loss = 11 ± 2%) before metabolic study. Recombinant-human growth hormone dose was 0.1 mg/kg/day (n = 6) or 0.2 mg/ kg/day (n = 6). Patients then underwent measurement of baseline protein kinetics (GH/B, CTL/B) followed by a 2-hour euglycemic insulin infusion (1 mU/kg/minute) and repeat kinetic measurements (GH/1NS, CTL/INS). Whole-body protein net balance (jumol leucine/kg/minute) was higher (p