A comprehensive set of serum markers of collagen turnover and growth w
as investigated in a longitudinal study of short children during growt
h induced by growth hormone (hGH) treatment, The study comprised 18 pr
epubertal children with short stature who had no other current illness
or continuous medication, The growth rates and endogenous GH secretio
ns covered a continuum from subnormal to normal, Before treatment, the
concentrations of carboxyterminal propeptide of type I procollagen (P
ICP), reflecting type I collagen formation, of carboxyterminal telopep
tide of type I collagen (ICTP), a degradation product of type I collag
en, of aminoterminal propeptide of type III procollagen (PIIINP), a ma
rker for type III collagen formation, of alkaline phosphatase (AP), an
d of insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) were withi
n the lower limits of normal, The median IGF-I concentration was lower
than the reference. One week after the start of treatment, the serum
concentrations of ICTP, PIIINP, and osteocalcin (OC), and the incremen
ts in ICTP, PIIINP, and IGF binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) correlated wit
h the subsequent height velocity, During the 12-month treatment, all m
arkers were higher than those of age-matched references, but only the
three collagen markers paralleled the changes in height velocity, In m
olar concentrations, ICTP increased less than PICP, Throughout the stu
dy period, the serum level of ICTP correlated with that of PIIINP, but
not with that of PICP, The findings suggest that during hGH treatment
, linear body growth is closely associated with collagen formation and
degradation. (C) 1997 by Elsevier Science Inc.