Human Growth Hormone Pre-treatment for 6 Weeks Prior to Ovulation Induction for IVF

February 15, 2020 updated by: Center for Human Reproduction

An Open-Label Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) of 6 Weeks of Human Growth Hormone (HGH) Prior to Ovulation Induction for In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)

Synthetic human growth hormone (HGH) has been available for more than a decade for specific indication in children and adults. Past Randomized Control Trials (RCT)s of HGH (under off-label use) for improving ovarian function have shown that a combination of traditional gonadotropin ovulation induction protocols, with addition of HGH is effective in increasing pregnancy rates, but not increasing egg production after IVF in women with documented diminished ovarian reserve (DOR). The investigators hypothesize that by initiating HGH at least 6 weeks prior to IVF start, the investigators will be able to increase production of oocytes and further improve pregnancy chances. This hypothesis is based on prior observations of effects of growth hormone on small antral follicles and the fact that prior studies utilized HGH principally only during ovulation induction itself.

The investigators plan to recruit 30 women (15 in each group) to an open label randomized controlled trial of HGH for augmentation of ovarian response among women with documented DOR and poor prior response to ovulation induction.

Eligible participants will be women < 45 years with documented history of prior retrieval of 2 or fewer oocytes while on maximal ovulation induction despite prior supplementation with dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA).

Women will be treated with 1.9 mg (5.7 units) of HGH per day, beginning about 6 weeks before start of their treatment cycle. Cost of treatment with HGH will be a cost to the participating patient. HGH will cost the patient approximately $800 per week of treatment. Patients who are randomized to the non-HGH treated group, and do not conceive, will in the following cycle be offered HGH supplementation outside of this clinical trial. This subsequent cycle will not be part of the study dataset and patients will also be responsible for the cost of HGH.

Even with only 7 patients in each group, this trial will have a 99% power (error 0.05%) to detect a mean increase to 4 oocytes in the treated group. The investigators plan to recruit 15 patients in each group to allow for possible dropouts.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

Synthetic HGH was developed in 1985 and approved by the FDA for specific uses in children and adults (1996; 2003). In children, HGH injections are approved for treating short stature of unknown cause as well as poor growth due to a number of medical causes, including:

  • Turner's syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects a girl's development.
  • Prader-Willi syndrome, an uncommon genetic disorder causing poor muscle tone, low levels of sex hormones, and a constant feeling of hunger.
  • Chronic kidney insufficiency.
  • HGH deficiency or insufficiency.
  • Children born small for gestational age.

In adults, approved uses of HGH include:

  • Short bowel syndrome, a condition in which nutrients are not properly absorbed due to severe intestinal disease or the surgical removal of a large portion of the small intestine.
  • HGH deficiency due to rare pituitary tumors or their treatment.
  • Muscle-wasting disease associated with HIV/AIDS.

HGH supplementation is potentially useful in ovulation induction. Over the last decade, as recombinant HGH has become commercially available, there have been many studies looking at the effects of HGH on ovulation induction. Almost all of these studies administered HGH along with routine fertility medication during the ovulation induction cycle. Most studies used HGH doses between 4 units and 12 Units. A few studies started GH on day 21 of the previous cycle.

A recent Cochrane review found that, while HGH did not improve results in routine IVF cycles there is "some evidence of increased pregnancy and birth rates in women who are considered 'poor responders' to in vitro fertilization."

HGH is reported to modulate the action of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) on follicles by up-regulating local synthesis of IGF-1. A similar effect was, interestingly, noted by Casson et al. (Casson, Santoro et al. 1998; Casson, Lindsay et al. 2000) in early experiments using DHEA with treated patients having increased IGF-1. Much of the focus on gonadotropin /IGF-1

interaction has revolved around the effects on granulosa cell cultures to increase aromatase activity, estradiol production progesterone production and Luteinizing Hormone (LH) receptor formation. However,Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1) also has a proposed role in stimulating early follicle development and oocyte maturation (Yoshimura, Ando et al. 1996; Yoshimura, Aoki et al. 1996).

Based on these observations, we believe that HGH in past trials has not been used to maximal effect. Since HGH, like DHEA, appears to affect small growing follicles, weeks to months removed from gonadotropin sensitivity, the greatest potential for HGH, under our hypothesis, would be its use, attempting to affect these small growing follicles. In analogy to DHEA supplementation, this would mean that HGH supplementation would have to be initiated at least 6 weeks prior to IVF cycle stimulation start. Theoretically, administration of HGH during the 6 week before starting an IVF cycle will have an effect on developing antral follicles to present a larger and better quality cohort of follicles when ovulation induction is begun.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

30

Phase

  • Phase 2
  • Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • New York
      • New York, New York, United States, 10021
        • Center For Human Reproduction

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 44 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • The study will be limited to women with Poor Response to prior treatment with evidence of diminished ovarian reserve with 2 or fewer oocytes in a previous ovulation induction cycles with maximal gonadotrophin stimulation. All women in this study will be <45 years old.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Cardiac disease, evidence of glucose intolerance

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Human Growth Hormone
1.9 mg (5.7 units) daily injection of Recombinant Human Growth Hormone (HGH) for at least 6 weeks (42 days) plus FSH 450 to 600 units per day administered subcutaneous (SQ) daily dose adjusted based on the patients response starting on day 2 of the 28 day menstrual cycle and continued until Ovulation trigger
1.9 mg (5.7 units) daily injection of Recombinant Human Growth Hormone (HGH) for at least 6 weeks (42 days) continuing into the approximately 14 days of ovulation induction phase of the trial.
Other Names:
  • Genotropin
  • Saizen
  • Norditropin
  • Human Growth Hormone (HGH)
  • Somatotropin
  • Omnitrope
  • Humatrope
  • Serostim
  • Nutropin
  • Tev-tropin
  • Zorbtive
FSH 450 to 600 units per day administered SQ daily dose adjusted based on the patients response starting on day 2 of the 28 day menstrual cycle and continued until Ovulation trigger
Other Names:
  • Menopure
  • Bravelle
  • Gonal-F
  • Follistim
Active Comparator: Follicle Stimulating Hormone
FSH 450 to 600 units per day administered SQ daily dose adjusted based on the patients response starting on day 2 of the 28 day menstrual cycle and continued until Ovulation trigger
FSH 450 to 600 units per day administered SQ daily dose adjusted based on the patients response starting on day 2 of the 28 day menstrual cycle and continued until Ovulation trigger
Other Names:
  • Menopure
  • Bravelle
  • Gonal-F
  • Follistim

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Oocytes retrieved for IVF
Time Frame: 8 weeks after starting intervention
8 weeks after starting intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Clinical Pregnancy Rates
Time Frame: 12 weeks after starting intervention
Presence of an established clinical pregnancy as evidenced by gestational sac with active fetal heart beat
12 weeks after starting intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: David H Barad, MD, Center For Human Reproduction
  • Study Chair: Norbert Gleicher, Center For Human Reproduction

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

August 1, 2014

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

June 1, 2021

Study Completion (Anticipated)

June 1, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 15, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 28, 2014

First Posted (Estimate)

July 1, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 18, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 15, 2020

Last Verified

February 1, 2020

More Information

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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