1. Individuals with isolated congenital GH deficiency due to a GHRH receptor gene mutation appear to cope better with SARS-CoV-2 infection than controls
- Author
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Elenilde G. Santos, Grazielly Bispo da Invenção, Kezia Alves dos Santos, Lysandro Pinto Borges, Saulo E F S Santos, Viviane C. Campos, Igor Leonardo Santos Matos, Manuela A. Melo, Roberto Salvatori, Amélia Ribeiro de Jesus, Nicolas Alessandro Alves Souza, Hertz T Santos-Júnior, Aryanne Araujo Santos, Manuel H. Aguiar-Oliveira, Brenda Morais Oliveira, José Machado Neto, Carla R. P. Oliveira, Enaldo Vieira de Melo, Daniela Raguer Valadão de Souza, Vanderlan O Batista, Pamela Chaves Borges, Alécia A Oliveira-Santos, and Cynthia S Barros-Oliveira
- Subjects
Adult ,Receptors, Neuropeptide ,Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism ,030209 endocrinology & metabolism ,Gene mutation ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Endocrinology ,Immune system ,Receptors, Pituitary Hormone-Regulating Hormone ,Seroepidemiologic Studies ,Diabetes mellitus ,medicine ,Humans ,Risk factor ,biology ,Human Growth Hormone ,SARS-CoV-2 ,business.industry ,Pituitary tumors ,COVID-19 ,medicine.disease ,GHRH receptor ,Null allele ,GH ,IGF-I ,Cross-Sectional Studies ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,Mutation ,Immunology ,biology.protein ,IGHD ,Original Article ,Antibody ,business - Abstract
Purpose Several interactions exist between the GH/IGF axis and the immune system, including effects on innate immunity and humoral and cellular response. Acquired GH deficiency (GHD) has been recently proposed as a risk factor for severity of COVID-19 infections. However, acquired GHD is often associated to other factors, including pituitary tumors, surgery, radiotherapy, and additional pituitary hormones deficits and their replacements, which, together, may hinder an accurate analysis of the relationship between GHD and COVID-19. Therefore, we decided to assess the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and the frequency of symptomatic cases of COVID-19 in adults subjects with untreated isolated GHD (IGHD) due to a homozygous null mutation in the GHRH receptor gene. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out in 27 adult IGHD subjects and 27 age- and gender-matched local controls. Interview, physical examination, bio-impedance, hematological and SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG antibodies were analyzed. Results There was no difference in the prevalence of positivity of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG antibodies between the two groups. Conversely, no IGHD individual had a previous clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 infection, while 6 control subjects did (p = 0.023). Conclusion The production of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was similar between IGHD subjects due to a GHRH receptor gene mutation and controls, but the evolution to symptomatic stages of the infection and the frequency of confirmed cases was lower in IGHD subjects than in GH sufficient individuals.
- Published
- 2021
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