The future of research into growth hormone responsiveness.

Decades of experience with growth hormone (GH) therapy have indicated considerable variability in responsiveness to therapy, even within single diagnostic categories, such as GH deficiency, Turner syndrome, intrauterine growth retardation and idiopathic short stature. It is likely that the major explanation for such variability lies in the genetic composition of the patient, including mutations of genes participating in the GH-insulin growth factor I cascade and genetic polymorphisms. Future studies of pharmacogenomic and pharmacoproteomic markers may allow us to better predict and categorize responsiveness to therapy.