ESPE Abstracts

Studies of patients with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism or delayed puberty have identified genes whose encoded proteins are important for GnRH neuronal development and/or stimulation of GnRH secretion to trigger puberty onset. Notably, the neuropeptides, kisspeptin and neurokinin B, produced in hypothalamic neurons upstream of GnRH neurons, were identified as key activators of pulsatile GnRH secretion. However, the mechanisms restraining GnRH secretion during childhood to preve...

Background: Loss-of-function mutations in the imprinted gene MKRN3 represent the most common known genetic defects associated with central precocious puberty (CPP). The penetrance of these mutations remains to be established. To date, all reported individuals with MKRN3 mutations were already in puberty or postpubertal and were identified retrospectively.Objective and hypotheses: To report the first case of a prepubertal child with an MKRN3 muta...

Background: We recently identified loss-of-function mutations in makorin ring finger 3 (MKRN3) as a cause of familial central precocious puberty (CPP). Analysis of Mkrn3 expression in the arcuate nucleus of mice showed high expression levels in juvenile mice, with a marked reduction prior to puberty onset, suggesting that MKRN3 inhibits puberty initiation. The function of MKRN3 is not known but based on its amino acid sequence, it is predicted to act as an ubiquitin l...