Growth hormone suppression is the key to prevention, people with dwarfism have an extremely low incidence of diabetes and cancer

Growth hormone receptorHereditary due to abnormalityDwarfism (dwarfism)One type ofLaron type short stature diseaseAccording to a 22-year study targeting the family of "growth hormone refractory disease", growth hormone did not function and did not grow tallShort statureIn people of the average height compared with relatives,DiabetesWhencancer(cancer)It was revealed that the incidence of extremely low levels was extremely low.

In the future it is expected that it will be able to prevent cancer and diabetes by suppressing growth hormone by drugs and diet.

Details are as below.Dwarfism Gene Linked to Protection From Cancer and Diabetes - USC News

Severely short Ecuadorians resistant to diabetes, cancer, study says - CNN.com

Andean Mountains Middle Abdomen,Ecuador· People living in a village in Loja Prefecture crossed from Spain to South America and converted to ChristianitySephardim(Spanish Jewish) have many descendants,Laron type short stature diseaseIt is known that families are concentrated.

Growth hormone is normally secreted in patients with Laron type short stature disease, but receptors do not function due to mutations in growth hormone receptor genes, secretion is promoted by growth hormoneInsulin-like growth factor 1(IGF-1) Is lacking, he will grow only to about 4 feet (120 cm) in height, and will spend his entire life with a height of about seven years old.

Growth hormoneIt is not an abnormality on the side secreting the growth hormone (left), it is impossible to notice that growth hormone is secreted due to abnormality on the side of the receptor (right) that binds to growth hormone, and the directive "increase, increase," I can not receive it.


Lalon type short statureAutosomal recessive inheritanceBecause both parents have dwarfism, only children with dwarfism are born, and even if both parents are normal height, both are "carriers" (there is abnormality only in one of the pair of genes) In case, the child becomes dwarfism with the probability of 1 in 4 people.


University of Southern CaliforniaDr. Valter Longo, a cell biologist,QuitoEndocrinologist Jaime Guevara-Aguirre, a resident Ecuadorian doctor and colleague, said 99 people with Laron-type short stature disease in this village of Andean and their relatives and 22 years with a stature of 1,600 ordinary stature (including carriers) Surveys spanning over the past few years have found that people with short stature patients have fewer people with diabetes or cancer. Thesis isScience Translational MedicineIt is published in the magazine.

Dr. Jaime Guevara - Aguirre and Laronian short stature people who were the subject of investigation.


It is a group of relatives who live in the same village and send similar life style and genetic conditions should be close, but in 1600 people who are not dwarfism, 17% were diagnosed as cancer during the 22 year study period , Only one of the 99 people with dwarfism had carcinogenesis in 22 years. This woman in 2008Ovarian cancerAfter having received treatment, it does not recur and the prognosis is good.

Regarding diabetes, 1,600 people who are not dwarfism were about 5%, the same as the incidence rate of the entire Ecuadorian population, but in 99 years of dwarfism, one person did not become diabetic in 22 years . Many people with dwarfism are sending a poor diet and one in five people is obese, but they are more sensitive to insulin than insiders who are not dwarfism, and the fasting blood glucose level is about 1/3 It is clear that it is.

Apart from 99 survey participants, 53 researchers surveyed 53 death dwarf people as a result of death, there was no death associated with cancer and diabetes. Of the 99 collaborators who died during the investigation period, nine people died. Totalizing the cause of death for 62 people in total, there are many causes of accidents and drinking related causes of death and convulsive disorder as compared with relatives of normal height It is said that. In addition to diabetes and cancer, people with dwarfism also had a lower frequency of stroke than relatives, but they do not know whether there is a significant difference as to the stroke because the mother population is small.

National Institute of AgingIn an experiment carried out in collaboration with the Lauron type short stature subjectsserumIn the human mammary epithelial cells touched by the DNA chain cleavage decreasedApoptosis(Cell natural death) will increase. In other words, as DNA is protected from oxidative damage, it already suffers from being damaged and tattered DNA advances to commit suicide. Although this mechanism has not been found out, "It may be possible to explain that the cell does not grow up or divide, but uses that energy for a defensive mechanism," Dr. Longo says.


This is not the first result of research that links growth hormone and cancer. In animal experiments so far,South Illinois UniversityWhenUniversity of OhioTwo studies conducted by scientists in 1996 and 2000 confirmed that 40% life span extends in mice deficient of growth factors and is associated with a loss of growth factor and a reduction in tumor risk .

It is not involved in this researchJohns Hopkins UniversityAssociate Professor Endocrinology Associate Professor Roberto Salvatori of the Faculty of Medicine previously studied in Brazil 65 people with another type of dwarfism different from Laron type short stature disease in a similar study (in 2010The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and MetabolismI announced it in a magazine), but at that time it was said that 1 in 65 people died from cancer.

"Currently, treatment for administering growth hormone to adult patients with growth hormone secretion disorder is being done, but research results like those of Ecuador this time may doubt this treatment. Some people get illegally administered growth hormone by seeking youthful skin with little wrinkles and less fat and a muscular figure, but these people increase youthfulness, while raising the risk of diabetes and tumors It may be, "Dr Salvatori says.


However, among the various degrees of growth hormone secretion disorder, the case of Laron type short stature people whose growth hormone does not function from the time of birth is an extreme example, and "human growth is low" It is not always possible to say that you can not get cancer ".

Despite the overwhelming difference in the incidence of diabetes and cancer, the life expectancy of people with dwarfism is small when viewed comprehensively, offset by death causes such as accidents often caused by people with dwarfism and drug abuse It seems that it did not change from the group of relatives who are not human diseases. Although psychological assessment has not been done in the study, Dr. Longo said, "People with growth hormone disorders we met are like 'normal' people who are relatively 'happy', cognitive functions are normal However, there were many causes of strange deaths, especially alcohol-related deaths. "

"Many people with dwarfism living in urban areas are facing discrimination," Dr. Guevara-Aguirre says. "The discovery of this time, thanks to the people who cooperated in the survey, the contribution to that dedicated science should be greatly admired.When there are patients who have cooperated with the investigation for 22 years, I want people all over the world to know, their efforts, their blood, their serum, their cells are helping to understand cancer and diabetes. "


"If cholesterol is the risk factor for heart disease,Growth factorIs a risk factor for cancer, drugs that inhibit growth factors are secondStatin(A medicine that appeared in the 1980's and received a savior-like treatment by cholesterol lowering effect), "Dr. Longo says.

In future it is possible that growth hormone inhibitors may be used as "cancer preventive drugs", but prophylactic administration should be limited to families with particularly high incidence of cancer and diabetes at the beginning, Dr. Longo He states that the amount of growth hormone decreases with age, so that preventive effects can not be obtained in the elderly who originally little growth hormone is secreted.

Since preventive growth hormone suppression against cancer and diabetes merely means "prevention", evaluation of side effects will be much more severe than drugs for "treatment" of already developed disease . Prophylactic growth hormone suppression should be limited within the range that lowers adults with high growth hormone activity to an average level and it should not be reduced from the average level to dwarfism patients as well as Dr. Longo I am adding.

Currently due to excessive secretion of growth hormoneAcromegalyIt is used to treatPegvisomant(Bind growth hormone receptor and block growth hormoneAntagonist) And several growth hormone inhibitors alreadyAmerican Food and Drug AdministrationAs far as patients with acromegaly are concerned, side effects are known to be acceptable.

Due to research, it has already been clarified that mice and human cells of growth hormone secretion disorder are not susceptible to chemical damage, therefore Longo et al.chemical treatmentWe are hoping to obtain approval of a clinical trial of the protective administration of these drugs to patients undergoing treatment.


Drugs are not the only means to suppress growth hormone. It is known that the same effect as hormone antagonist can be obtained by suppressing calorie restriction and intake of specific nutrition such as protein. However, long-term dietary restrictions are accompanied by various risks such as eating disorders, blood pressure reduction, immunosuppression etc., and for some people with specific genetic mutation, short-term dietary restriction may be life-threatening, so prevention Dr. Longo emphasizes that further research is needed to implement dietary restrictions to control growth hormone as a medical necessity and must be done with caution under the supervision of a doctor.

Longevity with elongated longevity is the permanent theme of humanity. Rather than die in 50 years, I want to live 80 years, in the last 30 years of 80 years I have spent 80 years without a major illness, and I think that I want to die without suffering at the last minute. Even if it turns out that side effects of growth hormone by drugs are found to have a few side effects, we predict that most of society and government will pay for it, in exchange for having to suffer for a long time without suffering from diabetes or cancer for a long time It is being done.


It is not a dreamy thing to be able to cut the risk of carcinogenesis of all human beings tomorrow as a result of suppression of growth hormone, but the height has continued to grow in a family with many cancers and diabetes and becoming college students People like that will be able to enjoy the benefits if preventive medicine by growth hormone control is established.