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Review
. 2025 Mar;21(3):180-195.
doi: 10.1038/s41574-024-01052-1. Epub 2024 Nov 13.

Growth hormone-releasing hormone and its analogues in health and disease

Riccarda Granata  1 , Sheila Leone  2 , Xianyang Zhang  3   4 , Iacopo Gesmundo  5 , Charlotte Steenblock  6 , Renzhi Cai  4   7 , Wei Sha  3   4   7   8 , Ezio Ghigo  5 , Joshua M Hare  3   7 , Stefan R Bornstein  6 , Andrew V Schally  3   4   7   8
Affiliations
Review

Growth hormone-releasing hormone and its analogues in health and disease

Riccarda Granata et al. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2025 Mar.

Erratum in

Abstract

Growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) and its ability to stimulate the production and release of growth hormone from the pituitary were discovered more than four decades ago. Since then, this hormone has been studied extensively and research into its functions is still ongoing. GHRH has multifaceted roles beyond the originally identified functions that encompass a variety of direct extrapituitary effects. In this Review, we illustrate the different biological activities of GHRH, covering the effects of GHRH agonists and antagonists in physiological and pathological contexts, along with the underlying mechanisms. GHRH and GHRH analogues have been implicated in cell growth, wound healing, cell death, inflammation, immune functions, mood disorders, feeding behaviour, neuroprotection, diabetes mellitus and obesity, as well as cardiovascular, lung and neurodegenerative diseases and some cancers. The positive effects observed in preclinical models in vitro and in vivo strongly support the potential use of GHRH agonists and antagonists as clinical therapeutics.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: A.V.S., R.C., X.Z., W.S. and J.M.H. are co-inventors on the patents for GHRH analogues assigned to the University of Miami and Veterans Affairs Medical Center. J.M.H. reports having a patent for cardiac cell-based therapy and holds equity in Vestion Inc. and maintains a professional relationship with Vestion Inc. as a consultant and member of the Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Board. Vestion Inc. did not play a role in the preparation or funding of the article. J.M.H. is the Chief Scientific Officer, a compensated consultant and board member for Longeveron Inc. and holds equity in Longeveron. J.M.H. is also the co-inventor of intellectual property licensed to Longeveron. Longeveron did not play a role in the preparation or funding of this article. The University of Miami is an equity owner in Longeveron Inc., which has licensed intellectual property from the University of Miami. The other authors declare no competing interests.

References

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    1. Schally, A. V. et al. Purification of growth hormone-releasing factor from beef hypothalamus. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 122, 821–823 (1966). - PubMed - DOI

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