ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Congenital Lipoid Adrenal Hyperplasia (CLAH) is a severe deficiency of adrenal and gonadal steroidogenesis, caused by mutations in the StAR gene and the accumulation of cholesterol in the outer mitochondrial membrane due to steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR) deficiency. Affected patients present peripheral adrenal insufficiency with early onset, and variable phenotypes at the age of puberty.Objective of o...

Background: We previously found that mast cells are present in the human adult adrenal gland with a possible role in the regulation of aldosterone secretion in both physiological conditions and aldosterone-producing adrenocortical adenomas responsible for primary hyperaldosteronism.Objective and Hypotheses: The aim of the present study was to investigate the presence of mast cells in the human fetal adrenal gland, and to provide arguments in favor of the...

Mast cells are known to control mineralocorticoid synthesis and secretion in human normal adrenal gland and aldosterone-producing adenomas through release of serotonin. We recently detected these immune cells in human fetal adrenal from 18 weeks of gestation in the subcapsular layer, in correlation with the expression of steroidogenic enzymes required for aldosterone biosynthesis. This observation suggests the implication of mast cells in the mineralocorticoid synthesizing pat...

Background and objectives: To study short-term effects of consequent weight loss on ovarian function and its correlation with morphometric and metabolic changes at 1 and 2 years after a laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) placement in severely obese adolescents.Subjects and methods: Our retrospective and observational study was conducted between July 2015 and January 2016 in a single center. Menstruations, anthropology and biological data were...

Background: Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin types 1 and 2 (PCSK1 and PCSK2) are expressed in neuroendocrine tissues where they cleave a subset of inactive prohormones into biologically active hormones, including pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC), proTRH, proinsulin, proglucagon, and proGnRH. Congenital deficiency of PCSK1 is a very rare syndrome causing malabsorptive diarrhea contrasting with severe early-onset obesity and hypopituitarism. We described here a new case of cong...

Background: We recently demonstrated the presence of mast cells in human fetal adrenal gland from 18–20 weeks of gestation (WG) within the subcapsular layer. In the adult adrenal, mast cells have been implicated in mineralocorticoid synthesis and secretion especially in aldosterone-producing adenomas. Because similarities exist between tumors and normal fetal development and as cell-to-cell interactions involving immune cells are implicated in organogenesis, we hypothesiz...

Background: Lipodystrophy syndromes comprise a large group of extremely rare diseases characterized by loss or dysfunction of adipose tissue. Due to their extreme rarity and variability, research in the field of lipodystrophy is difficult for single centres warranting larger co-operations.Methods: Therefore, the European Consortium of Lipodystrophies decided to found an international registry in 2016. This registry is ba...

Background: Incidence of hypospadias varies considerably across countries, ranging from 4 to 43 cases per 10,000 births. Environmental factors might explain these differences. The classical approach is to use case-control studies to identify these factors. However, this approach suffers from the unavoidable arbitrariness of the definition of controls, and of recall bias.Objective and hypotheses: To identify environmental markers of the place of birth of ...

Background: Hereditary Hypophosphatemic Rickets (HHR) is caused by persistently elevated FGF23 resulting in renal phosphate wasting and decreased 25 vitamin D hydroxylation. Treatment with vitamin D analogues (VDA) has been added to phosphate supplements in the late seventies.Objective and hypotheses: Our objective was to evaluate the outcomes of VDA and phosphate supplements in adult patients with HHR in comparison with patients who did not receive VDA ...