ESPE Abstracts

Background: Hypercortisolism due to PPNAD may be cyclical, atypical and may develop suddenly or progressively.Objective and Hypotheses: The performance of salivary cortisol (SF) in this rare cause of Cushing’s syndrome (CS) is lacking.Method: Ten patients (nine F/one M) with PPNAD (two sporadic; eight Carney complex) were evaluated. Among these, six had CS family history, while in two the diagnosis was confirmed by germline PR...

Introduction: The circadian rhythmicity of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis depends on the synchronization of the clock molecular systems in the suprachiasmatic nucleus and in the adrenals. When and how this process occurs in the adrenal is unknown.Objective: To assess the ontogeny of daily variation of the expression of the adrenal clock genes (Clock, Arntl, Per1, Per2, Per3, Cry1, Cry2, Rora, and Nr1d1), steroid...

Background: Basal 17OHP levels to indicate an ACTH-stimulation test and post-ACTH 17OHP cut-off levels diagnosing NC-CAH vary among different guidelines.Objective: To establish the performance of basal and post-ACTH 17OHP concentrations for the NC-CAH diagnosis in children with precocious pubarche (PP).Methods: Clinical, biochemical, and molecular analysis from 202 PP patients subm...

Background: In pediatric patients with adrenocortical tumors (ACT), morbidity and mortality rates have been extensively evaluated. However, there are almost no data on the late consequences of early exposure to high androgen levels on pubertal development and on final height (FH) in these patients.Objective: To investigate the impact of early exposure to androgen excess on gonadotropin-dependent pubertal development and on final height (...

Background: The mitochondrial enzyme nicotinamide nucleotide transidrogenase (NNT) is essential in the antioxidant defense mechanisms and appears to be essential to the stages of adrenal steroidogenesis that occur inside the mitochondria.Aim: To characterize how mutations in NNT gene impair adrenal steroidogenesis resulting in familial glucocorticoid deficiency (FGD).Methods: Genom...

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: Growth spurt is a major event in central precocious puberty (CPP). GnRH analogue (GnRHa) therapy inhibits gonadal axis and decreases height velocity. However, serum IGF1 and IGFBP-3 remain high as before therapy. Reports on IGF type 1 receptor (IGF1R) in CPP are yet unavailable.Aim: To study IGF1R mRNA expression in girls with CPP before and during GnRHa therapy.Methods: 34 girls with CPP were studied. Sixteen of them (...

Background: Activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway is frequent in adrenocortical tumors (ACTs). This pathway and DAX1, a negative regulator of SF1 expression, control adrenal stem/progenitor cells, which can be involved in ACTs formation.Objective: To analyse the association between the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and the expression of a stem cell marker (NANOG), STAT3, DAX1 and SF1 in ACTs.Methods: Patients:...

Children diagnosed with adrenocortical tumors (ACT) have variable prognosis depending on disease presentation at diagnosis. Available therapeutic options render excellent outcome for a subset of patients, but limited improvement in the survival of those diagnosed with non-localized/advanced disease. ACT DNA methylation was recently demonstrated to be a robust and independent prognostic biomarker. Aiming to identify potential therapeutic targets for these children, we compared ...

Background: The sonic hedgehog pathway (SHH) regulates CNS development and mutations or abnormal expression of the SHH pathway genes have been identified in epithelial tumors. SHH pathway interacts with Wnt/β-catenin signalling. To date, CTNNB1/β-catenin mutations are the sole molecular abnormality found in adamantinomatous craniopharyngiomas (ACPs).Objective and Hypotheses: To analyze the expression pattern of SHH pathway genes in ACPs and its...