Musclemoose,
(Thanks for the response, BTW...)
Yeah, I just threw those out there. I think there is some value in those studies in that they suggest the effect of GH aggregation on the development of antibodies, i.e., they can give us some idea of how the extent of this aggregation in (oxidized) non pharm-grade GH could lead to antibody formation.
(1. Mulinacci F, Poirier E, Capelle MA, Gurny R, Arvinte T. Influence of methionine oxidation on the aggregation of recombinant human growth hormone. European journal of pharmaceutics and biopharmaceutics : official journal of Arbeitsgemeinschaft fur Pharmazeutische Verfahrenstechnik eV. 2013;85(1):42-52.)
It's interesting that the same group found that oxidation doesn't change the conformation of the GH, which would mean oxidized GH would still have powerful biological actions, but also tend to cause antibody formation.
1. Mulinacci F, Bell SE, Capelle MA, Gurny R, Arvinte T. Oxidized recombinant human growth hormone that maintains conformational integrity. J Pharm Sci. 2011;100(1):110-122.
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Also, the presence of anti-bodies 2-5 years after GH use was worthy of note. It's possible of course that that duration of antibody production was specific to the use of these forms of GH.
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So, yes, I agree that those studies aren't representative of the incidence of GH antibody formation when using pharm / research grade GH (in children).
On the other hand ... many folks here aren't using charm-grade GH, which may fall prey to production issues such as oxidation and aggregation.
I wouldn't say we "can use those studies" to inform us, as long as we're cognizant of what they are telling us.
-S
P.S. Thanks for the well thought out response. I just blasted those last night before bed. TBH, very often in threads like this my posts don't get a response, so I was admittedly being a bit lazy in just dropping in those studies. I'm glad you took a look.