| abstract |
Methods for increasing the growth rate of a human patient having partial growth hormone insensitivity syndrome, but not Laron syndrome, are described. One such method comprises ad-ministering an effective dose of growth hormone, preferably growth hormone with a native human sequence, with or without an N-terminal methion-ine, to the patient. The patient is characterized as having a height of less than about -2 standard devi-ations below normal for age and sex, a serum level of high-affinity growth hormone binding protein that is at least 2 standard deviations below normal levels, a serum level of IGF-I that is below normal mean levels, and a serum level of growth hormone that is at least normal. In another such method, the same patient population is treated with an ef-fective amount of IGF-I, given alone or in combi-nation with an amount of growth hormone that is effective in combination with the IGF-I. |