ESPE Abstracts

Background: Patients with PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog) hamartoma tumor syndrome and germ line mutations in PTEN frequently develop lipomatosis, for which there is no standard treatment. Rapamycin was shown to reduce the growth of lipoma cells with heterozygous PTEN deficiency in vitro, but concomitantly induced an up regulation of AKT phosphorylation.Objective and hypotheses: Since it was shown that resveratrol stabilizes PTEN,...

Background: Childhood obesity is a global health problem and co-morbidities develop already during childhood and adolescence. Male obesity impacts negatively on reproductive function. Testosterone is decreased, sperm quality reduced, and the physical and molecular structure of germ cells altered in obese males. However, less is known about the role of prepubertal obesity on future reproductive function. We therefore explored Leydig cell function and reproductive potential in a...

Background: In adults it has been shown, that GHmax values after provocation testing are negatively correlated to BMI. Preliminary studies in children have found a similar correlation. Consequently children with elevated BMI would be overdiagnosed with GHD. However, studies so far were too small to define this correlation exactly. This would be a condition to judge whether and to what extend adjustments of GH cut-off levels should be considered also in children with elevated B...

Introduction: Leptin, an adipokine secreted mainly by adipose tissue, is a regulator of energy balance acting through central mechanisms on the hypothalamus. However, leptin has many functions regulating e.g., immune system and reproduction. Leptin exerts its biological effects through its receptor, the expression of which has been demonstrated in several tissues. There are several leptin receptor isoforms, but activation of only one of them, the long form, re...

Background and Objectives: Being born small for gestational age (SGA) as well as growth hormone (GH) treatment are associated with a disturbed glucose-insulin metabolism. We aimed to investigate whether SGA patients have a higher risk of developing an impaired glucose-insulin metabolism under GH treatment in comparison to children with an isolated growth-hormone deficiency (iGHD), to children with obesity and a healthy control group.<str...

Background/Objectives: Blood amino acid (AA) and acylcarnitine (AC) concentrations are informative on physiological and disease-associated changes in human metabolic pathways. Previously, AAs and ACs were examined as potential biomarkers or predictors of complex metabolic diseases in adults and children. However, there is still a lack of studies examining physiological AA and AC blood levels in healthy paediatric populations. We aimed to assess the intra-perso...

Context: Childhood obesity is supposed to affect growth and development in children but there is uncertainty with regard to dynamics and potential causes. We analyzed differences in age-related growth patterns of obese and normal-weight children and their association with circulating endocrine and metabolic factors.Objective/Design: In a large German childhood cohort from Leipzig including 7986 children (22793 data sets) we compared cross-sectional and l...

Background/Aim: Serum NAMPT (nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase) levels are altered in adult patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, less is known about NAMPT serum levels children and adolescents and their association with parameters of liver function.Methods: Blood and anthropometric data of 416 children and adolescents who participated in the LIFE Child Study Leipzig were collected. Serum NAMPT (Adipogen) and cytokeratin-...

Background: The phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN)/phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT signaling pathway is central for cell cycle control, differentiation, migration, and metabolism. Unrestricted growth of adipose tissue in particular is frequently seen in humans with germline PTEN and mosaic activating PIK3CA mutations, respectively.Objective and hypotheses: We assume that adipocytes from affected tissue show hyperproliferation and modified dif...

Background: The course of type 2 diabetes is more severe among children with obesity than among adults. Therefore, children at high risk for glycemic deterioration should be detected early enough to guide preventive (and interventional) clinical management.Methods: We established age- and puberty-specific reference values for 7 different indexes addressing the insulin response during oral glucose tolerance testing upon 4...