Although growth hormone–releasing hormone (GHRH) protein therapy avoids some of the negative effects of growth hormone therapy, such as insulin resistance and impaired glucose tolerance, the short half-life of the protein limits its therapeutic utility. In this issue, Schwartz and colleagues demonstrate that direct intramuscular injection of a plasmid encoding an engineered protease-resistant form of GHRH in pigs, coupled with a synthetic muscle promoter, results in significant long-term growth of the animals (see p. 1179).
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Frederickson, R. Growing bigger pigs. Nat Biotechnol 17, 1150 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/70678
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/70678