ESPE Abstracts

Infant hypoglycaemia, a condition characterized by abnormally low blood glucose levels in newborns and/or young children, is a critical issue that can lead to significant short- and long-term complications if not promptly recognized and managed. This condition often arises due to various etiologies, including maternal diabetes, intrauterine growth restriction, prematurity, endocrine diseases, or metabolic disorders. Clinically, infants with hypoglycaemia may present with non-s...

Aims: Recently, our team introduced the concept of post-hypoglycemic hyperglycemia (PHH) in the context that recovery of hypoglycemia impacts cardiovascular risk. GLUREDIA study aimed to evaluate whether PHH parameters correlated with glycemic homeostasis during the first year after type 1 diabetes onset and helped to distinguish pediatric patients undergoing partial remission or not.Methods: In the GLUREDIA study, longi...

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic disease characterized by the autoimmune destruction of pancreatic β cells. This destruction is mediated by lymphocytes T helper and cytotoxic, and by the action of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL1β, IFNγ and TNFa inside the islets of Langerhans. We propose a new approach to alleviate islet inflammation by targeting pro-inflammatory cytokine receptors. Our hypothesis is that the downregulation of inflammatory pathways ma...

Background: Diabetes ketoacidosis (DKA) is the most severe complication in type 1 diabetes (T1D) but patient education and ketone monitoring may help decrease its frequency. However, the influence on glucose homeostasis of systematic ketone monitoring and of the nature of monitoring (urine vs blood) is unclear.Objective and hypotheses: To determine whether the use of blood ketone monitoring, as compared to urine ketone testing, decreases the duration of ...

Objective: To provide etiology-based diagnostics to pediatric patients with diabetes in Belgium using routine clinical phenotyping and thorough genotyping.Methods: A Belgian GENEPEDIAB study consortium was created to screen, using routine diagnostic tools, for monogenic forms of diabetes in pediatric patients followed in convention centers for type 1 or type 2 diabetes, while presenting atypical biological and clinical f...

Presently, the autoimmune character of T1D is challenged, but it is indisputable that inflammation plays a key role in its development. We hypothesized that glucotoxicity could contribute to β-cell mass destruction through maintenance of inflammation. Here, we aimed to evaluate, after diabetes onset, the potential of empagliflozin (EMPA) to protect β-cell mass against glucotoxicity, in monotherapy or in association with GABA, tested for its potential to increas...

Aims: In children with new-onset type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D), insulin dose regimens vary substantially. According to current ISPAD recommendations, the initial total daily dose (TDD) should range from 0.7 to 1.0 IU/kg BW/day. Adjusting TDD to achieve normal blood glucose concentration can take several days. The primary objectives of our INSENODIAB (INsulin SEnsitivity in New Onset type 1 DIABetes) study were to assess how patient characteristics influence i...

Background/Aims: Length and weight of all children in Flanders are monitored every three years at school from the age of 3 years. The current criteria used for referral to specialized care are: height SDS < -2.5, height SDS between -2 and -2.5 SDS with a height SDS adjusted for parental height < -1.64, or a decrease in height SDS of more than 1 SDS in the past 3 years. The aim of this study is to investigate the sensitivity of the Flemish referral criter...

Background: Pancreatic epithelial cells represent an attractive cell source for replacement therapy of type 1 diabetes. Previously, we designed a protocol for expansion of human pancreatic duct-derived cells (HDDCs) and showed their β-cell engineering potential.Objective and hypotheses: In this study, we reprogrammed HDDCs into β-cell-like lineage by over-expressing mRNAs of key pancreatic transcription factors (TFs).Meth...

Background: Secondary forms of diabetes mellitus (DM) are underdiagnosed in children and adolescents with cancer because despite the whole body of evidence that asparaginase, steroids and total body irradiation increase the risk of developing DM, risk factors are missing and – asides from treatments – understudied (e.g., pre-existing obesity, sex, age, ethnicity, family history of DM). The objectives of our study were to assess the incidence and asso...