ANTIHORMONE STUDIES IN BOYS TREATED WITH ANTERIOR PITUITARY-LIKE HORMONE FOR GENITAL UNDERDEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The claims of investigators in the field of endocrinology that certain hormones, administered parenterally to experimental animals, will cause a production of antagonistic substances within an animal’s blood stream has significance which cannot be overlooked (1). Production of these antagonistic substances or antihormones has been demonstrated in animals for such principles as the maturity, the ketogenic, the thyreotropic and growth factors of the anterior pituitary gland. This demonstration, coupled with the discovery of the APL gonadotropic principle found in the urine of pregnant women, warrants the attention of the laboratorian as well as the clinician (2, 3, 4, 5). Certainly, with the increasing use of endocrine therapy, the clinician must recognize the possibility of the occurrence of such antagonistic bodies in the human (6). For some time the clinical significance of the likelihood of the existence or production of such antagonistic substances in humans, especially in those receiving chronic endocrine therapy has been considered (7–11). As such, it has led to a study of antihormone response in patients with genital underdevelopment, who were receiving intensive therapy with APL hormone of the urine of pregnant women. The purpose is not to enter into any detailed discussion on the varied opinions of antihormones, now current on the subject, but to present for consideration the following results from a clinical study.