ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Ovary development was once considered a largely passive process. RNA sequencing (RNAseq) approaches have allowed us to begin to characterise ovary development in previously unparalleled detail, revealing the process to be complex and, still, little understood. A challenge is synthesising and using these data to advance our understanding of clinical disease. Through a clinically-focused lens, we elucidate novel aspects of the transcriptional lands...

Background: Heterozygous de novo variants in SAMD9 cause the complex multisystem growth disorder, MIRAGE syndrome. Core features are myelodysplasia, infection, restricted growth, adrenal hypoplasia, genital/gonadal phenotypes, and enteropathy. However, the range of additional associations is expanding and includes disrupted placental development, poor post-natal growth, and other endocrine features. Milder phenotypes are also described, such ...

Objectives: Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is an extremely heterogeneous connective tissue disorder characterized by low bone mass, which together with altered bone matrix properties leads to skeletal fragility. Due to the wide range of symptoms, the pathophysiology of the OI is not fully understood. Null mutations in SERPINF1, encoding the potent antiangiogenic factor PEDF, cause type VI OI with excessive osteoid formation, abnormal osteoblast-osteocyt...

Background: Noonan syndrome (NS) is a rare genetic disease characterized by facial dysmorphism, short stature, heart defects, chest deformities, and variable developmental delay/learning disabilities. Almost 80% of patients have a mutation in the genes encoding components of the RAS/MAPK pathway. Puberty was described as delayed in NS patients, but few studies are focusing on this subject and genotype-phenotype correlations so far.<s...

Introduction: Pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP) is a rare disease, characterized by parathyroid hormone (PTH) resistance and it refers to different mineral disorders of bone metabolism, classified as PHP type 1a (Albright-OHA Hereditary Osteodystrophy), PHP1b and PHP1c (OHA).Four cases reports: Four children were identified as having PHP, being three of them female. PHP was diagnosed at six years of age (three cases) and at...

Introduction: Barakat Syndrome (HDR Syndrome) is characterized by hypoparathyroidism (H), sensorineural deafness (D) and renal disease (R) caused by an autosomal dominant inheritance, being mostly associated to deletions in chromosome 10p14 or mutations in GATA3 gene.Case Report: A 9 years old male was admitted at an emergency complaining of upper and lower limbs pain and contractures that progressed with periodic tetany...

Background: Tissue glucocorticoid sensitivity is characterized by a considerable variation in terms of therapeutic response and side effects to synthetic glucocorticoids. The multi-metabolite concentration profile measured by untargeted plasma metabolomics provides a comprehensive metabolic signature that might be used in clinical practice.Objective and Hypotheses: To investigate the usefulness of plasma metabolomics in identifying a metabolic signature ...

Background: Fetal skeletal bone development and mineralisation depends on placental calcium transfer. Although Parathyroid Hormone (PTH) pathway has some contribution, TRPV6 (the sixth member of the Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid family) is a recently identified receptor involved in calcium transport and is predominantly expressed in the placenta. It has not previously been linked with skeletal development disorders.Case: This infant had...

Background: Glucocorticoids exert profound immune-modulating effects and regulate the expression of genes involved in cell cycle progression and apoptosis. Synthetic glucocorticoids are the most potent agents used in the treatment of inflammatory, autoimmune and lymphoproliferative disorders. Considerable variation in response to therapeutic doses of glucocorticoids exists among individuals, as evidenced by differences both in disease response and in the incidence of glucocort...

Background: Actual surgical procedures for the treatment of patients with VSD (Variation of Sex Development), in particular severe hypospadias, are associated with frequent post-operative complications.Objective and hypotheses: Tissue engineered collagen tubes are a promising alternative.Method: We elaborated a new, two layered, collagen based tube that can be sutured. Mechanical testing proved a better resistance of those tubes co...