ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Increasing incidence of male reproductive disorders may be due to fetal exposure to putative endocrine disruptor chemicals (EDCs), such as phthalates and phenols. Anogenital Distance (AGD) is a biomarker of fetal androgen action in animals, and has recently been linked to testicular dysgenesis syndrome in humans.Objective: To examine the relationship between prenatal phthalate and phenol exposure and birth AGD in male infants.<p class="...

Background: Treating central precocious puberty with GnRH agonist (GnRHa) to increase height gain is well-established. Although not recommended, GnRHa have also been used in patients with IGHD at onset of puberty yet there are few data on its efficacy.Objective and hypotheses: Growth prediction models derived from KIGS (Pfizer International Growth Database) may provide an opportunity to estimate additional height gain produced by pubertal blockade.<p...

Background: Children born small for gestational age (SGA) exhibit wide variations in the activity of growth hormone (GH)/insulin–like growth factor–I (IGF-I) axis and this heterogeneity may result in supra physiological concentrations of IGF-I during GH treatment. The long-term effects of elevated IGF-I levels has been a matter of concern. We explored the variations in total IGF-I and bioactive IGF-I and the associations with growth and glucose metab...

Background: DLK1 or PREF1 is an imprinted gene highly expressed from the paternal allele in embryonic tissues and placenta. It has been recently implicated in adipose tissue expansion and diabetes development. The human rs1802710 polymorphism (SNP) in DLK1 gene has been associated with early-onset extreme obesity but its role determining growth is unknown.Objective and hypotheses: To study the preferential paternal transmission...

Background: The phenotypic effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may depend on their parental origin. PLAGL1 is an imprinted gene expressed from the paternal allele in placenta that is associated with fetal growth, transient neonatal diabetes mellitus and postnatal growth disorders. The mechanisms whereby PLAG1 regulates fetal growth are, however, unknown.Objective and hypotheses: To study if the preferential paternal transm...

Background: A common polymorphism in the growth hormone receptor gene (d3-GHR) was found to be associated with pre- and postnatal growth and GH-induced growth. D3-GHR was associated with glucose metabolism in adults with GHD and acromegaly, but this has not previously been explored in children.Objective and hypotheses: We examined the impact of the GHR-exon-3 deletion on glucose metabolism and anthropometrics in short SGA children before and following 1 ...

Background: While GH therapy forms the mainstay of growth promoting treatment for Turner syndrome (TS), adjunctive use of oxandrolone and optimal timing of pubertal induction remain controversial. The previously published interim analysis of this randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial demonstrated that oxandrolone and pubertal induction at 14y vs 12y significantly increased final height. However, these effects were not additive.Objective: To up...

Background: Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), such as phthalates and bisphenol A (BPA), have been associated with insulin resistance (IR) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) in non-pregnant adults. By contrast, recent pilot studies of pregnant women found negative associations between phthalates and blood glucose, and a lack of association with BPA. No studies have examined gestational IR or secretion in relation to EDC exposure.Objective: To confirm these re...

Background: The C19MC locus microRNA gene cluster is imprinted in the placenta. Imprinted genes control prenatal development and placental functions, and are epigenetically regulated. The factors that affect the DNA methylation status of C19MC regulatory region are unknown, as is the impact of this differential methylation on the offspring’s body size.Objectives: To study in humans 1) the association of placental C19MC DNA...