EFFECTS OF HUMAN GROWTH-HORMONE THERAPY ON MELANOCYTIC NEVI

Melanocytic naevi may grow more rapidly during human growth hormone (h GH) therapy. With standardised skin photographs, the growth rate of th e naevi was two-fold greater in 14 hypopituitary and 5 Turner's syndro me girls treated with hGH than in untreated patients or controls. HMB- 45 immunoreactivity, a marker of stimulated melanocytes, was absent in naevi from 18 of 19 individuals not treated with hGH, including 5 Tur ner's syndrome patients studied 2-43 months after stopping hGH. In nae vi from 39 hGH-treated patients, 22 showed unusual HMB-45 reactivity i n dermal naevocytes. During administration of hGH, melanocytic naevi g row faster and there is reversible stimulation of naevocytes.