ESPE Abstracts

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) continues to be a diagnostic challenge in adolescent girls. Symptoms like oligomenorrhea and acne, and polycystic ovarian morphology on ultrasound can be normal variants in adolescents. In addition to diagnostic difficulties, there is lack of randomized controlled trials for PCOS treatments specific to adolescents. Current guidelines for diagnosis and management of PCOS in adolescents have large variations and rely ...

Introduction: Growth restriction (GR) comprises ~50% of new patient referrals to paediatric endocrine clinics with <20% receiving a clear diagnosis. Enhanced genetic testing and stratification leading to tailored clinical care is a fundamental need. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was offered to patients recruited to the 100,000 Genomes Project (100 KGP), leading to new diagnoses in ~25% of all rare disease participants. The analysis pipeline uses disease-spe...

Background: Pathogenic IGFI gene mutations causing childhood growth failure are rare. Only 5 autosomal recessive mutations, one IGFI copy number variant and 2 heterozygous frameshift mutations are reported. Heterozygous missense IGFI mutations have not previously been described.Objectives: To identify and functionally characterise a novel missense IGFI variant in a patient with postnat...

Background: Childhood growth is an indicator of health/well-being. Growth monitoring identifies treatable conditions in apparently healthy children and prevents inappropriate referrals. Systematic growth monitoring is not currently a UK priority and growth disorders are frequently diagnosed late.Objective: Develop and test the accuracy of GrowthMonitor, an app which enables families to measure a child’s height at h...

Background: Silver Russell syndrome (SRS) is genetically heterogenous and around 30% of patients with clinical SRS have no genetic diagnosis. Mutations in HMGA2 have recently been identified causing growth failure and an SRS-like phenotype. Despite strong evidence of the crucial role of HMGA2 in growth across species, the mechanism of action of HMGA2 in human linear growth is unclear.Objective:...

Background: In selected cohorts, a genetic cause is found in up to 40% of children presenting with severe short stature (height <-3 SDS) and 30% with multiple pituitary hormone deficiency (MPHD). Since 2020, to inform diagnosis and tailor management, three NHS England genomic laboratory hubs (GLHs) have offered clinicians access to gene panels as part of routine care for short stature: R147 ‘Growth failure in early childhood’ (e...

Background: Silver Russell syndrome (SRS) is a heterogeneous disorder characterised by intrauterine and post-natal growth retardation, relative macrocephaly, protruding forehead, feeding difficulties and body asymmetry. Variants in HMGA2 are a rare cause of SRS and despite strong evidence for the crucial role of HMGA2 in growth regulation, its functional role in human linear growth is unclear.Methods: Patients w...