Gigantism

The condition of accelerated and excessive GROWTH in children or adolescents who are exposed to excess HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE before the closure of EPIPHYSES. It is usually caused by somatotroph hyperplasia or a GROWTH HORMONE-SECRETING PITUITARY ADENOMA. These patients are of abnormally tall stature, more than 3 standard deviations above normal mean height for age.

Also Known As:

Networked: 265 relevant articles (6 outcomes, 10 trials/studies)

Relationship Network

Disease Context: Research Results

Related Diseases

1.	Acromegaly
2.	Pituitary Neoplasms (Pituitary Adenoma)
3.	Adenoma (Adenomas)
4.	Stroke (Strokes)
5.	Carney Complex

Experts

1.	Beckers, Albert: 10 articles (05/2022 - 12/2014)
2.	Daly, Adrian F: 10 articles (05/2022 - 12/2014)
3.	Trivellin, Giampaolo: 9 articles (01/2022 - 01/2012)
4.	Korbonits, Márta: 8 articles (01/2022 - 01/2012)
5.	Stratakis, Constantine A: 7 articles (01/2022 - 12/2014)
6.	Hernández-Ramírez, Laura C: 4 articles (01/2020 - 01/2012)
7.	Rostomyan, Liliya: 4 articles (10/2016 - 12/2014)
8.	Moran, Amy L: 3 articles (12/2020 - 03/2009)
9.	Woods, H Arthur: 3 articles (12/2020 - 03/2009)
10.	Bours, Vincent: 3 articles (10/2016 - 12/2014)

Drugs and Biologics

Drugs and Important Biological Agents (IBA) related to Gigantism:

1.	Growth Hormone (Somatotropin)IBA 01/01/2023 - "Pituitary gigantism is a rare endocrinopathy characterized by tall stature due to growth hormone (GH) hypersecretion. " 12/31/2021 - "Pituitary gigantism is extremely rare, resulting from excessive secretion of growth hormone (GH) before fusion of epiphysial growth plates. " 05/22/2021 - "An excess of growth hormone (GH) results in accelerated growth and in childhood, the clinical manifestation is gigantism. " 01/01/2020 - "Growth hormone (GH) is a key modulator of growth and GH over-secretion can lead to gigantism. " 01/01/2020 - "GPR101 drives growth hormone hypersecretion and gigantism in mice via constitutive activation of Gs and Gq/11."
2.	Octreotide (Sandostatin)FDA LinkGeneric 01/01/2004 - "After 1 year of treatment with octreotide-LAR, the GH level was 1.0 microg/l, and the prospective final height dropped by 10 cm. This case demonstrates that combined surgical and medical treatment can influence the prognosis of childhood gigantism; however, the prognosis of this rare condition remains uncertain." 01/01/1999 - "Suppression of GH secretion in pituitary gigantism by continuous subcutaneous octreotide infusion in a pubertal boy." 07/20/1989 - "SMS 201-995 appears to be an effective agent for the treatment of acromegaly and gigantism." 02/20/1992 - "Our study suggests that octreotide is an effective and relatively safe new approach for treating active acromegaly and gigantism." 02/20/1992 - "[Long-term treatment of acromegaly and gigantism with octreotide (SMS 201-995)]."
3.	Insulin-Like Growth Factor I (IGF-1)IBA 09/01/2005 - "The aim of the study was to evaluate the long-term effects of early exposure to GH and IGF-I excess on cardiovascular and metabolic parameters in adult patients with pituitary gigantism. " 01/01/2018 - "X-linked acrogigantism (X-LAG) is a recently described form of familial or sporadic pituitary gigantism characterized by very early onset GH and IGF-1 excess, accelerated growth velocity, gigantism and/or acromegaloid features. " 10/01/2016 - "Gigantism occurs when excess GH or IGF-1 lead to increased linear growth, before the end of puberty and epiphyseal closure. " 09/01/2005 - "Concentrations of IGF-I were significantly (P<.05) higher in patients with gigantism who have cardiac abnormalities than in those without cardiac abnormalities. " 01/01/1996 - "In the present case, nonpulsatile GH secretion and enhanced tissue sensitivity to GH may induce hypersecretion of IGF-I and IGF-BP-3 and cause clinical acromegalic gigantism."
4.	pegvisomantFDA LinkGeneric 03/01/2007 - "Pegvisomant is a potent treatment option in patients with pituitary gigantism. " 08/01/2008 - "The objective of the study was to describe the results of therapy of three children with pituitary gigantism by a GH receptor antagonist, pegvisomant. " 08/01/2008 - "Pegvisomant may be an effective modality for the therapy of pituitary gigantism in children. " 08/01/2005 - "To evaluate the ability of pegvisomant therapy to control the effects of peripheral GH excess in a case of pituitary gigantism. " 08/01/2005 - "Pegvisomant therapy in pituitary gigantism: successful treatment in a 12-year-old girl."
5.	lanreotide (Somatuline)FDA Link 01/01/2013 - "Efficacy, safety, and pharmacokinetics of sustained-release lanreotide (lanreotide Autogel) in Japanese patients with acromegaly or pituitary gigantism." 01/01/2013 - "In an open-label, long-term study, 32 patients (30 with acromegaly, 2 with pituitary gigantism) received lanreotide Autogel once every 4 weeks for a total of 13 injections. " 01/01/2013 - "In an open-label, parallel-group, dose-response study, 32 patients (29 with acromegaly, 3 with pituitary gigantism) received 5 injections of 60, 90, or 120 mg of lanreotide Autogel over 24 weeks. " 01/01/2013 - "In conclusion, lanreotide Autogel provided early and sustained control of elevated GH and IGF-I levels, improved acromegaly symptoms, and was well tolerated in Japanese patients with acromegaly or pituitary gigantism."
6.	ProlactinIBA 12/01/2011 - "All three family members had very early onset of gigantism associated with abnormally high serum levels of GH and prolactin. " 12/01/2011 - "A mother and both her sons had very early-onset gigantism associated with high levels of serum GH and prolactin. " 03/01/2016 - "X-linked acrogigantism (X-LAG) syndrome is a newly described form of inheritable pituitary gigantism that begins in early childhood and is usually associated with markedly elevated GH and prolactin secretion by mixed pituitary adenomas/hyperplasia. " 01/01/1986 - "True gigantism with overproduction of growth hormone (GH) and prolactin (PRL) was diagnosed in a 13-year-old boy. " 09/01/1985 - "True gigantism with overproduction of growth hormone (GH) and prolactin (PRL) was diagnosed in two boys, aged 13 years (case I) and 7 1/2 years (case II). "
7.	Somatotropin Receptors (Growth Hormone Receptor)IBA 03/01/2013 - "Pituitary gigantism treated successfully with the growth hormone receptor antagonist, pegvisomant." 08/01/2008 - "Treatment of pituitary gigantism with the growth hormone receptor antagonist pegvisomant." 09/01/2010 - "Excessive activation of the growth hormone receptor by circulating growth hormone results in gigantism and acromegaly, whereas cell transformation and cancer can occur in response to autocrine activation of the receptor. "
8.	aryl hydrocarbon receptor-interacting proteinIBA 01/01/2020 - "Mutations in the gene for the aryl-hydrocarbon receptor interacting protein (AIP) have been identified in approximately 20% of FIPA families and are the most frequent cause (29%) of pituitary gigantism. " 10/01/2014 - "A novel germline mutation in the aryl hydrocarbon receptor-interacting protein (AIP) gene in an Italian family with gigantism." 05/01/2022 - "Complicated Clinical Course in Incipient Gigantism Due to Treatment-resistant Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor-Interacting Protein-mutated Pediatric Somatotropinoma." 01/01/2020 - "Patients with aryl hydrocarbon receptor-interacting protein (AIP) mutations often present with pituitary gigantism, either in familial or sporadic adenomas. " 01/01/2017 - "The aryl hydrocarbon receptor interacting protein (AIP) founder mutation R304* (or p.R304* ; NM_003977.3:c.910C>T, p.Arg304Ter) identified in Northern Ireland (NI) predisposes to acromegaly/gigantism; its population health impact remains unexplored. "
9.	Proteins (Proteins, Gene)FDA Link 09/01/1992 - "Pituitary gigantism is a rare condition whose association with McCune-Albright syndrome suggests that mutations in alpha-subunit of a Gs protein are an important cause of this condition. " 01/01/2022 - "Recent studies have started to elucidate the function of satellite DNA, yet little is known about the peculiar case where satellite DNA is found within the introns of protein coding genes, resulting in incredibly large introns, a phenomenon termed intron gigantism. " 09/01/2017 - "In-frame seven amino-acid duplication in AIP arose over the last 3000 years, disrupts protein interaction and stability and is associated with gigantism." 12/01/2011 - "The PCA confirmed that grain gigantism was the main physical characteristic resulting of domestication, whereas the protein and tryptophan contents tended to be higher in wild than domesticated genotypes. " 08/01/2020 - "Approximately 50% patients of gigantism have a germline mutation, most commonly an inactivating mutation in the aryl-hydrocarbon interacting receptor protein (AIP) gene on chromosome 11q13.2. We present an 11-year-old male patient with a GH-secreting pituitary macroadenoma who presented with excessive growth spurts, behavioral changes, and frontal headaches. "
10.	AndrogensIBA 07/01/1948 - "Studies in growth; the effects of androgen in gigantism and acromegaly." 06/01/1992 - "Also, in previous reports of 9 gigantism patients under 10 years old, the manifestation of precocious adrenarche was suggested in 8. Further investigation of the influence of GH and PRL on adrenal androgen production in children with pituitary gigantism is required. " 12/01/1995 - "Eunucoid appearance and gigantism (195 cm) has rarely been observed as a fenotypic expression of this enzymatic deficit, but are justified by deficiency of both androgens and estrogens." 12/01/1948 - "Interrelationship between pituitary growth factor and growth-promoting androgens in acromegaly and gigantism; quantitative evaluation of bone and soft tissue growth in acromegaly and gigantism."

Therapies and Procedures

1.	Therapeutics 12/01/2018 - "Early diagnosis and rapid referral for effective therapy appear to improve outcomes in patients with pituitary gigantism; therefore, a high level of clinical suspicion and efficient use of diagnostic resources is key to controlling overgrowth and preventing patients from reaching very elevated final adult heights." 12/01/2018 - "The large tumour size, together with the young age of patients and frequent resistance to medical therapy, makes the management of pituitary gigantism complex. " 03/01/1987 - "[Diagnosis and therapy of gigantism]." 02/01/1982 - "Endodontic therapy associated with a case of cuspid gigantism." 10/01/1981 - "This case, which appears to be the youngest example of verified pituitary gigantism on record, illustrates that a successful outcome can be achieved by surgical ablative therapy."
2.	Hypophysectomy 10/01/1981 - "Pituitary gigantism in a 31 month old girl: endocrine studies and successful response to hypophysectomy." 04/01/1966 - "Mitochondrial gigantism in the adrenal cortex following hypophysectomy." 06/01/1979 - "Gigantism associated with a pituitary tumour secreting growth hormone and prolactin and cured by transsphenoidal hypophysectomy."
3.	Injections 01/01/2013 - "In an open-label, long-term study, 32 patients (30 with acromegaly, 2 with pituitary gigantism) received lanreotide Autogel once every 4 weeks for a total of 13 injections. " 01/01/2013 - "In an open-label, parallel-group, dose-response study, 32 patients (29 with acromegaly, 3 with pituitary gigantism) received 5 injections of 60, 90, or 120 mg of lanreotide Autogel over 24 weeks. "
4.	Castration 08/01/2019 - "Trematode parasites often impact their hosts by inducing parasitic castration, frequently correlated with increased body size in the host (i.e., gigantism hypothesis), which is postulated to reflect the re-allocation of energy released by the reduction in the reproductive process. " 12/18/2012 - "However, only in females does parasite-induced castration result in the gigantism that increases the carrying capacity for the proliferating parasite. " 08/01/2007 - "Such castration can be accompanied by gigantism (unusually large growth of infected hosts), long infectious periods, and fecundity compensation (where, before heavy parasite burdens ensue, newly infected hosts reproduce earlier/more than they would if not infected). " 09/01/2006 - "In certain circumstances, the pathogen may even be able to manipulate the host to redirect resources away from reproduction and toward maintenance through castration, causing gigantism." 11/01/2004 - "A verbal model is presented and suggests that the adaptive value of gigantism is to store host resources, which are liberated after parasitic castration for later use by the growing parasite. "
5.	Radiotherapy 05/01/2000 - "The management of pituitary macroadenomas which lead to gigantism may require multiple therapeutical approaches, including medical treatment, surgery, and radiation therapy. " 08/01/1952 - "Visual field defects in gigantism: report of a case showing improvement following radiotherapy." 09/01/2011 - "We present two cases of a 31 and 44 years old male with gigantism and acromegaly that were controlled subsequently by surgery, radiotherapy, SRIF analogs and daily PEG-V treatment. " 04/01/2014 - "One of the two index cases presented with gigantism and pituitary apoplexy, the other presented with young-onset acromegaly, and both had surgery and radiotherapy. " 11/20/2023 - "In rare cases, radiation-induced injury has led to radiation-induced cortical dysplasia, also known as "focal neuronal gigantism." The authors present a 53-year-old woman with recurrent status epilepticus events after she had radiation therapy and surgery for a left frontal meningioma several years prior. "