Abstract
Objectives
Traditional daily recombinant human growth hormone injections can be burdensome for patients and caregivers, leading to compliance issues. Long-acting growth hormone formulations have been developed to overcome these challenges.
Case presentation
We report a 7-year-old girl who developed severe lipoatrophy secondary to repeated somatrogon injections at the same anatomical site during the third month of therapy, with complete resolution after 10 weeks of treatment discontinuation.
Conclusions
To our knowledge, this is only the second reported case of somatrogon-induced lipoatrophy in the literature. This case also showed that lipoatrophy developing as a result of somatogron treatment is a reversible side effect.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express our gratitude to the patient’s parents for their understanding and cooperation in this study.
-
Research ethics: Not applicable.
-
Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study, or their legal guardians or wards.
-
Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
-
Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.
-
Conflict of interest: The author states no conflict of interest.
-
Research funding: None declared.
-
Data availability: Not applicable.
References
1. Deal, CL, Steelman, J, Vlachopapadopoulou, E, Stawerska, R, Silverman, LA, Phillip, M, et al.. Efficacy and safety of weekly somatrogon vs daily somatropin in children with growth hormone deficiency: a phase 3 study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2022;107:e2717–28. https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgac220.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
2. Yuen, KCJ, Miller, BS, Boguszewski, CL, Hoffman, AR. Usefulness and potential pitfalls of long-acting growth hormone analogs. Front Endocrinol 2021;12:637209. https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2021.637209.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
3. Fisher, BG, Acerini, CL. Understanding the growth hormone therapy adherence paradigm: a systematic review. Horm Res Paediatr 2013;79:189–96. https://doi.org/10.1159/000350251.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
4. Chatelain, P, Malievskiy, O, Radziuk, K, Senatorova, G, Abdou, MO, Vlachopapadopoulou, E, et al.. A randomized phase 2 study of long-acting TransCon GH vs daily GH in childhood GH deficiency. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2017;102:1673–82. https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2016-3776.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
5. Sävendahl, L, Battelino, T, Brod, M, Højby Rasmussen, M, Horikawa, R, Juul, RV, et al.. Once-weekly somapacitan vs daily GH in children with GH deficiency: results from a randomized phase 2 trial. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2020;105:e1847–61. https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgz310.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
6. Fares, F, Ganem, S, Hajouj, T, Agai, E. Development of a long-acting erythropoietin by fusing the carboxyl-terminal peptide of human chorionic gonadotropin β-subunit to the coding sequence of human erythropoietin. Endocrinology 2007;148:5081–7. https://doi.org/10.1210/en.2007-0026.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
7. Hershkovitz, O, Bar-Ilan, A, Guy, R, Felikman, Y, Moschcovich, L, Hwa, V, et al.. In vitro and in vivo characterization of MOD-4023, a long-acting carboxy-terminal peptide (CTP)-modified human growth hormone. Mol Pharm 2016;13:631–9. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.5b00868.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
8. European Medicines Agency. CHMP safety working party’s response to the PDCO regarding the use of PEGylated drug products in the paediatric population 2025. [Internet] [cited 2025 Apr 4]. Available from: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/scientificguideline/chmp-safety-working-partys-response-pdco-regarding-use-pegylated-drugproducts-paediatric-population_en.pdf.Search in Google Scholar
9. Touraine, P, D’Souza, GA, Kourides, I, Abs, R, Barclay, P, Xie, R, et al.. Lipoatrophy in GH deficient patients treated with a long-acting pegylated GH. Eur J Endocrinol 2009;161:533–40. https://doi.org/10.1530/EJE-09-0422.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
10. Büyükgebiz, A, Demir, A. Severe lipoatrophy in a growth hormone deficient toddler girl treated with a non-pegylated long-acting growth hormone. Children 2025;12:58. https://doi.org/10.3390/children12010058.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
11. Cowell, C, Dietsch, S. Adverse events during growth hormone therapy. J Pediatr Endocrinol Metab 1995;8:243–52. https://doi.org/10.1515/jpem.1995.8.4.243.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
12. Chhiba, PD, Segal, D. Lipoatrophy associated with daily growth hormone injections. Endocrinol Diabetes Metab Case Rep 2021;21:0087. https://doi.org/10.1530/EDM-21-0087.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
13. Palese, T, Teboul, L. Growth hormone receptor knockdown sensitizes human melanoma cells to chemotherapy by attenuating expression of ABC drug efflux pumps. Endocrine 2018;59:407–13.Search in Google Scholar
14. Perchard, R, Moon, R, Clayton, PE, Gevers, EF. BSPED recommendations for the use of once-weekly long-acting growth hormone therapy in children with growth hormone deficiency [online]. https://www.bsped.org.uk/media/2xdjdr0q/lagh-guideline-24-04-2024.pdf [Accessed 27 June 2025].Search in Google Scholar
15. Bouloux, PM, Handelsman, DJ, Jockenhövel, F, Nieschlag, E, Rabinovici, J, Frasa, WL, et al.. First human exposure to FSH-CTP in hypogonadotrophic hypogonadal males. Hum Reprod 2001;16:1592–7. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/16.8.1592.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston