ESPE Abstracts

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...

Introduction: PTEN hamartoma tumor syndrome (PHTS) is a rare genetic disorder caused by germline mutations in the tumor suppressor gene Phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN), a negative regulator of the phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3K)/AKT/ mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway. Children with PHTS frequently develop adipose tissue overgrowth, so called lipomas that can lead to loss of organ function due to displacing lipoma growth. Currently, except...

Background and Aim: Pediatric patients with germline mutations in the phosphatase and tensin homolog (Pten) gene frequently develop aberrant adipose tissue growth called lipomas. In severe cases, recurrent lipoma formation can have adverse effects on organ function and quality of life. Due to the lack of understanding the basis of lipoma development, no systemic treatment options are available. We therefore aimed to characterize an already described lipoma bea...

Background and aim: PTEN hamartoma tumor syndrome (PHTS) is caused by germline mutation in the phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) gene. PTEN is a tumor suppressor gene and antagonist of the growth and survival signalling Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT/mammalian target of Rapamycin (mTOR)- cascade. Patients with PHTS, amongst other symptoms, develop lipomas, for which the underlying mechanism is not completely understood. To investigate the role of PTE...

The Silver-Russel syndrome (SRS) is characterized by an intrauterine growth retardation accompanied by postnatal growth deficiency. Affected individuals typically have proportionately short statue, finger deformities as well as typical facial features. About 10% of individuals with SRS have maternal uniparental disomy for chromosome 7 (UPD7) and 35%–50% showed hypomethylation of the parental imprinting center region 1 (ICR1) of chromosome 11p15.5. In the recent past also ...

Background: Signaling through the phosphoinositid-3-kinase (PI3K) pathway modulates bone development and remodeling. We aimed to dissect the role of phosphatase and tensin homolog (Pten), a negative regulator of PI3K signaling, in osteoprogenitor cells.Methods: Femura, tibiae and bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) from mice with Cre-inducible Pten knockdown in cells expressing the transcription factor Osterix (Pten cKO) a...

Obesity presents a major worldwide challenge, due to its numerous, severe adverse effects on health. This leads to a necessity to further investigate the mechanisms underlying lipid accumulation. The adipocytokine leptin may contribute to this process. While there already has been thorough research into central leptin action, deepening our understanding of leptin’s effects on whole-body energy homeostasis, relatively little is known about its auto- and paracrine effects....

Introduction&Aim: Activation of mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) as a major regulator of adipogenesis and lipid accumulation is controlled by upstream regulators hamartin/tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) 1 and tuberin/TSC2. Hamartin and tuberin form a protein complex that inhibits signal transduction to mTOR. The impact of TSC1 deficiency is not clearly defined in human adipose tissue. We identified a likely pathogenic TSC1 splicing variant in a lipo...