Израильдік педиатриялық эндокринолог Зви Ларонның өмірі мен еңбектері

Israeli pediatric endocrinologist

Zvi Laron (, born February 6, 1927) is an Israeli paediatric endocrinologist. Born in Cernăuţi, Romania, Laron is a professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University. In 1966, he described the type of dwarfism later called Laron syndrome. His research opened the way to the treatment of many cases of growth hormone disorders. He was the first to introduce the multidisciplinary treatment for juvenile diabetes.

Laron was born on February 7, 1927, to a Jewish family in the Bukovinian city of Cernăuţi (Chernivtsi), then in Romania (now in Ukraine). At the age of 6, he moved with his family to another Bukovinian town, Rădăuți. Following the June 1941 invasion of the USSR by Nazi Germany, Romania allied itself with Nazi Germany and regained Northern Bukovina (which had been annexed by the USSR in 1940), the 14 year old child and his family were deported to the concentration camps of Transnistria. There he had the chance to survive as a worker in a factory, which was founded in Mogilev by his uncle, Siegfried Sami Jagendorf (1885–1970), in order to save as many Jewish deportees as possible. Accordingly, Laron became a licensed iron turner.

After the end of the war, Laron was able to complete his high school studies and in 1945 he commenced his studies in medicine at the newly founded Medical School (Institutul medico farmaceutic) in the town of Timișoara, in western Romania. He was an active member of the Zionist students movement "Hasmonea", and left Romania in 1947 in order to emigrate illegally to Eretz Israel, then Mandatory Palestine. The ship of Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe, "Pan York" (nicknamed in Hebrew "Kibbutz Galuyot") was captured in the Mediterranean Sea by the British navy and its passengers, including Laron, were deported to internment camps in Cyprus. After the proclamation of the State of Israel in May 1948, Laron was freed and allowed to enter the country. After his arrival, he joined the army and served in the "Dajani" and Tel Hashomer's hospitals. In 1952, he graduated with MD from the Hadassah Hospital Hebrew University Medical School, Jerusalem. He then did his internship at Rambam Hospital in Haifa. During 1954–1957, he was a research and clinical fellow in paediatrics at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School Boston, and at the Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, while his fellowships was focalized especially on childhood endocrinology.

At the end of 1957, Laron returned to Israel and joined André de Vries in founding the pediatric endocrinological clinic and research in Israel. In 1958 he was the founder of the Institute for Pediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology at the Beilinson Medical Center in Petah Tikva, affiliated to Tel Aviv University, and led it until 1992. Laron was one of the first members of the teaching staff of the School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University and had a leading role in elaborating the pediatric teaching program at that institution. From 1983 to 1997 Laron was Incumbent of the Irene and Nicholas Marsh Chair in Endocrinology and Juvenile Diabetes, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University. He also founded the All Country Center for Juvenile Diabetes and an endocrinological laboratory aimed to develop new methods of detecting hormones in blood. This laboratory worked in the frame of the Felsenstein Institute of Research. Since 1998 Laron has been Professor Emeritus of Pediatric Endocrinology, Tel Aviv University and Director of Endocrinology and Diabetes Research Unit, Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel. In 1966, together with A. Pertzelan and S. Mannheimer, he described a new type of dwarfism (subsequently named "Laron Syndrome") of growth hormone resistance characterized by high levels of GH in serum, and low IGF I levels. The Institute of Pediatric Endocrinology was among the first medical centers to produce and use in therapy the GH and IGF hormones and gonadotropin analogues. Laron was among the founders of the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes, (ISPAD). He founded and served as Editor in Chief of the European Society of Pediatric Endorinology (ESPE) and the Growth Hormone Research Society (GRS) of the scientific journals Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism, Pediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology and Pediatric Endocrinology Reviews.

Laron Z, Pertzelan A, Mannheimer S. Genetic pituitary dwarfism with high serum concentration of growth hormone—a new inborn error of metabolism? Israel journal of medical sciences. 1966;2:152 5
Laron Z, Pertzelan A, Karp M, Kowadlo Silbergeld A, Daughaday WH. Administration of growth hormone to patients with familial dwarfism with high plasma immunoreactivity growth hormone: measurement of sulfation factor, metabolic and linear growth responses. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism. 1971;33:332 42
Laron Z, Galatzer A, Amir S, Gil R, Karp M, Mimouni M. A multidisciplinary, comprehensive, ambulatory treatment scheme for diabetes mellitus in children. Diabetes care. 1979;2:342 8
Eshet R, Laron Z, Pertzelan A, Arnon R, Dintzman M. Defect of human growth hormone receptors in the liver of two patients with Laron type dwarfism. Israel journal of medical sciences. 1984;20:8 11
Godowski PJ, Leung DW, Meacham LR, Galgani JP, Hellmiss R, Keret R, et al. Characterization of the human growth hormone receptor gene and demonstration of a partial gene deletion in two patients with Laron type dwarfism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 1989;86:8083 7
Gil Ad I, Leibowitch N, Josefsberg Z, Wasserman M, Laron Z. Effect of oral clonidine, insulin induced hypoglycemia and exercise on plasma GHRH levels in short stature children. Acta endocrinologica. 1990;122:89 95
Laron Z. Laron syndrome (primary growth hormone resistance or insensitivity): the personal experience 1958–2003. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism. 2004;89:1031 44
Weinstein D, Simon M, Yehezkel E, Laron Z, Werner H. Insulin analogues display IGF I like mitogenic and anti apoptotic activities in cultured cancer cells. Diabetes/metabolism research and reviews. 2009;25:41 9
Steuerman R, Shevah O, Laron Z. Congenital IGF1 deficiency tends to confer protection against post natal development of malignancies. European journal of endocrinology. 2011;164:485 9
Laron Z, Hampe CS, Shulman LM. The urgent need to prevent type 1 autoimmune childhood diabetes. Pediatric endocrinology reviews : PER. 2015;12:266 8
Laron Z, Laron Kenet T, Klinger G. For Debate: Growth Hormone Treatment of Infants Born Small for Gestational Age should be Started at or before the First Year of Age. Pediatric endocrinology reviews : PER. 2016;14:105 8