ESPE Abstracts

Catch-up growth (CUG) is characterized by a period of supranormal height velocity following a transient period of growth inhibition. The two classical hypotheses on the mechanism are the neuro-endocrine hypothesis (a central mechanism that would recognize the degree of mismatch between actual size and target size) and the growth plate hypothesis (local regulation of growth according to a preset cellular program of senescence, characterized by decreasing growth proliferation ra...

The easypod™ electromechanical injection in combination with the easypod Connect platform electronically records and transmits, in real time, accurate, objective records of the date, time and dose injected for patients receiving Growth Hormone (GH) for growth disorders, limiting the risk of misreporting and allowing physicians to accurately monitor patient behavior.The aim was to study individual patterns of adherence from start treatment up to 24 m...

Background: TV-1106 (Teva Pharmaceuticals) is a genetically fused human GH and human serum albumin, in development for treatment of GH deficiency (GHD). TV-1106 has an extended duration of action compared to daily GH treatment and thus it is believed that treatment with TV-1106 can reduce the frequency of injections and improve compliance and quality of life for those requiring growth hormone replacement therapy. The efficacy and safety data from adult studies with TV-1106 sup...

Background: The new preventive child health care guideline for referral of short/tall children facilitates early detection of growth disorders. Understanding the impact of early treatment initiation on recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) adherence and catch-up growth can support the use of the guideline.Aim: To evaluate the impact of age at rhGH treatment start on adherence (≥85% vs <85% of prescribed doses...

Introduction: Human growth is a multifactorial process involving genetic, hormonal, nutritional and environmental factors. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have shown that >400 genes are associated with adult height. African Baka Pygmies represent an isolated and well-confined small population with short stature of unknown etiology. In previous studies we reported an 8-fold reduced GH receptor gene expression and reduced serum levels of IGF-I and GHB...

Human growth is a complex trait. A considerable number of gene defects have been shown to cause short stature, but there are only few examples of genetic causes of non-syndromic tall stature. Besides rare variants with large effects and common risk alleles with small effect size, oligogenic effects may contribute to this phenotype. Exome sequencing was carried out in a tall male (height 3.5 SDS) and his parents. Filtered damaging variants with high CADD scores were validated b...

The many false-positive diagnoses of IIGHD do not automatically imply that re-testing is needed. Instead, the diagnostic procedure should be improved. Still, re-testing of children can be useful. Regarding the timing, re-testing within 1-2 months would only extend the diagnostic procedure. Re-testing after one year may be a useful option if the growth response appears insufficient. The current approach of re-testing at near-adult height (NAH) is associated with highest GH wast...

Background: ALS deficiency is characterized by mild short stature, delayed puberty, low serum IGF1, low serum IGFBP3 and undetectable serum ALS levels.Case: A 11.3 years old boy presented with short stature. He was born at term to consanguineous parents and the birth weight was unknown. On physical examination, his height and weight were 130.5 cm (−2.33 SDS) and 25.2 kg (−2.36 SDS) and he was prepubertal. The routine laboratory tests were nor...

Background: Measurement of testicular volume is important when conditions associated with a delay or advance in the onset of puberty, or micro- and macroorchidism, are suspected. Measured testicular volumes must be compared with reference data, preferably expressed in S.D. curves using the LMS method, as is routinely done for many auxological measurements in pediatrics. The current study therefore aimed to construct LMS-smoothed age-reference charts for testicul...

Objective: To describe clinical, laboratory and genetic characteristics of 42 short children from 34 consanguineous Turkish families.Design: Descriptive case series.Methods: After collecting clinical information, DNA samples were analysed in three European laboratories. In 18 children (12 families) suspected of a genetic defect in the growth hormone (GH)-insulin-like growth factor ...