ESPE Abstracts

Background: Hypoparathyroidism is typically managed with calcitriol/alfacalcidol. Close monitoring of serum calcium is required as under-treatment causes symptomatic hypocalcaemia while over-treatment will cause nephrocalcinosis. We report three cases who demonstrated resistance to treatment during an intercurrent illness, necessitating increase in medication doses and monitoring.Objective/hypotheses/method/results: Case series Case 1: Two-month...

The skeletal research field develops rapidly and has produced several exciting findings in the last year and includes advances in the treatment of rare skeletal disorders and an ever deeper understanding into the fundamental molecular mechanisms that control skeletal development, metabolism, growth, and mineralization. The targeting of the C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) pathway and options to directly antagonize the overactivity of the FGFR3 pathway in achondroplasia continu...

Introduction: Conventional treatment of X-linked hypophosphataemic rickets (XLH) involves administration of oral phosphate and vitamin D analogues. An important treatment goal is to heal rickets which is assessed by normalisation of serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels and resolution of radiological signs of rickets.Objectives: To determine the usefulness of serum ALP in assessing disease severity on wrist and knee ra...

Background: Daily recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) has been utilized since 1985 and has been proven to increase height velocity and improve body composition in growth hormone deficiency, various genetic syndromes and chronic kidney disease. Safety and efficacy are well established. Long-acting growth hormone (LAGH) analogs have been developed to improve compliance and patient experience. There are several LAGH preparations in development or early commer...

Background: Congenital Hyperinsulinism in Infancy (CHI) is characterised by inappropriate insulin release. We currently attribute hypoglycaemia to β-cell dysfunction because of defects in the ion channel genes ABCC8 or KCNJ11. However, the CHI pancreas is also associated with inappropriate expression of foetal-like transcription factors and enhanced cell proliferation.Hypothesis: As the CHI pancreas bears similarities to the foetal pancreas, we hypo...

Background: Hypophosphatasia (HPP) is a rare, inherited metabolic disease caused by loss-of-function mutations in the gene encoding tissue nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNSALP), resulting in hypomineralisation of bone. HPP presenting <6 months of age is often lethal due to respiratory insufficiency, with survival of 42% at 1 year. Asfotase alfa, a human recombinant TNSALP replacement, promotes bone mineralisation, with survival of 95% at 1 year in infants with HPP....

Background: Congenital hyperinsulinism in infancy (CHI) is associated with inappropriate insulin release from β-cells. This is causally linked to defects in the ion channel genes ABCC8 and KCNJ11 regulating insulin, but little is known about the metabolic support for sustained insulin exocytosis.Objective and hypotheses: We hypothesised that inappropriate insulin release in CHI would require sustained ATP generation by enhanced mit...

Background: Congenital hyperinsulinism of infancy (CHI) is the most common cause of severe hypoglycaemia in children. Although CHI arises from mutations in KATP channels which lead to inappropriate insulin secretion, CHI it also is associated with marked changes in islet organization.Aims and objectives: Our aim was to investigate the structure and composition of the islet capsule in CHI and age-matched control tissue.Me...

Background: Congenital hyperinsulinism in infancy (CHI) is a neonatal disorder of uncontrolled insulin release leading to profound hypoglycaemia. In addition to defects in pancreatic β-cell function, we have recently demonstrated that the CHI pancreas is highly proliferative, with rates of proliferation up to 14-fold higher than in age-matched controls.Objective and hypotheses: As patients require pancreatectomy to alleviate hypoglycaemia, our aim w...

Background: Diffuse congenital hyperinsulinism in infancy (CHI-D) mainly arises from mutations in KATP channel genes. In addition, there are also several reports of increased cell proliferation in CHI-D. We hypothesised that the higher rates of proliferation in CHI-D are as a consequence of failure to terminate proliferation in the neonatal period.Objective and hypotheses: To test this we examined the proliferative index (PI) of CHI-D tissue a...