ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Urinary gonadotrophins measurement is a noninvasive method for evaluation of pubertal development and may have utility in population studies.Objectives: To investigate the utility of urinary gonadotrophins as a noninvasive biomarker of puberty in boys and girls.Methods: School-based adolescent cohort study with two time points for collecting school time urine samples ...

Introduction: Salivary androgens represent a non-invasive marker of puberty that may have utility in population studies as well as in the clinical arena.Objectives: To establish normal reference values of salivary androgens using LC-MS/MS and demonstrate the correlations between salivary androgens and pubertal development in boys.Methods: School-based adolescent cohort study with t...

Introduction: Primary hypogonadism is stated as one of major features in patients with Turner Syndrome (TS), however it is not a constant finding. Variable markers of ovaries failure in TS patients are still missing. The present study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of atymullerian hormone and inhibin B assessment in predicting spontaneous puberty in patients with TS.Methods: The study included 35 TS patients. Gonadal a...

Background: Existing tests are not 100% accurate in differentiating between isolated hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH) and constitutional delay of puberty (CDP) in boys. Inhibin B is a glycoprotein produced by the Sertoli cells and is measurable even before puberty. Its level increases at the beginning of puberty under the influence of FSH.Objective and hypotheses: The levels of inhibin B (InhB) could differentiate between HH and CDP. We aimed to establ...

Background: Sertoli-Leydig Cell Tumors (SLCT) account only for 1% of all ovarian neoplasia, occur more commonly in the second or third decade of life and seldom secrete tumor markers. The experience in adolescence is limited.Objective and hypothesis: To report the hormonal and biological profile of a SCLT in a young adolescent. Ovarian tumor markers as well as FDG-PET scanning might be helpful in diagnosing ovarian malignancy in case of normal ultrasound...

Background: Patients affected by pseudohypoparathyroidism type 1b (PHPI-b) develop resistance to PTH leading to hypocalcemia and hyperphosphoremia, which is often associated with resistance to TSH. PHP-Ib is associated with methylation changes at one or several differentially methylated regions (DMRs) within the GNAS complex locus, located at 20q13.2–13.3. This locus gives rise to several different transcripts (NESP55, XL, A/B), with varying patterns of imprinted expressi...

Case Report: A 5-month-old girl born to first-cousin parents was referred to endocrinology for evaluation following two hospitalizations for vomiting and dehydration with severe hyponatremia and hyperkalemia. She had a history of recurrent emesis and poor weight gain, with a reportedly normal abdominal and renal ultrasound.Initial evaluation showed hyponatremia with elevated renin 170 ng/ml/hr (normal 2-37 ng/ml/hr) and aldosterone 275 n...

Introduction and objective: Gonadectomy was carried out for a long time after the diagnosis of complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS). It is now recommended to leave the gonads in situ in order to guarantee endogenous hormone production. It is unclear how best to clinically monitor testicular function. The aim of the study was to investigate whether inhibin B can be used as a future follow-up parameter to screen for gonadal function in CAIS p...

Background: The female gonadal axis is activated in mini-puberty and thereafter it is quiescent until puberty. We have shown that many girls with no clinical sign of puberty in the age group 1-6 yr. have a rather strong luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) response to a gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) test. However, stimulated LH and FSH values decreased in the age interval 1-6 yr and no LH/FSH values rose above 0.43. Serum est...

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...