AGING AND IMMUNE FUNCTION - A POSSIBLE ROLE FOR GROWTH-HORMONE

Elderly individuals have four to five times the case rate of cancer, t uberculosis and herpes tester and six to seven times the fatality rate from pneumonia compared to young adults. This may be causally related to two changes that occur with aging, i.e. decreased growth hormone ( GH)/insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) production and decreased immu ne function. Data from our laboratory as well as others have shown tha t, based on either GH secretory dynamics or IGF-1 levels, approximatel y 40% of adults aged 60 and older are GH deficient. In the same popula tion of subjects, immune function decreases such that there is a decli ne in cell-mediated and humoral immune responsiveness. Some of these i mmune deficits have been shown to be reversed in humans and primates b y GH and/or IGF-1 treatment. This paper will review some of these data .