ESPE Abstracts

Diabetes mellitus is a pandemic metabolic disorder characterized by chronic hyperglycemia. The pathogenic process is the result of insulin insufficiency. Insulin is a peptide hormone produced in the beta cells of the pancreatic islets. Current diabetes treatments strive for glycemic control but fail to solve the underlying beta cell defect. This approach has increased the life expectancy and quality of most patients with diabetes but has turned diabetes into a chronic disease....

Background and aims: The low dose short corticotropin test (LCT) is the most frequently used test to diagnose glucocorticoid-induced adrenal insufficiency (GAI) in children. Result of the LCT must be interpreted with caution since stimulated peak cortisol (PC) thresholds depend on the assay and time of sampling. We evaluated the prevalence of GAI by the LCT using both 20 and 30 minutes sampling and cortisol measurements by the most recent Roche Elecsys Cortiso...

Background/ Aims: Hyperuricemia (HU) is a frequent finding in childhood obesity, ranging between 12 and 40%, and associates to a variable extent with different components of the metabolic syndrome (MS). In this study, the effect of gender, (a Belgian native vs a non-Belgian native) descent and degree of general and central adiposity on serum uric acid (SUA) and the prevalence of HU was investigated in a multi-ethnic population of overweight/obese children and ...

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 and aims. In several European countries, the incidence of primary congenital hypothyroidism (PCH) seems to increase in the last decade, especially in countries that have lowered the newborn screening TSH cutoff. In Flanders, two centers manage since 2012 the newborn screening for PCH and these maintained the same TSH assay (Delphia, Perkin Elmer) and cutoff (15 mU/l). We studied the current incidence and etiology of PCH and initiation of thyroxine treatment in Fland...

Background & aim: Biallelic thyroglobulin (TG) gene variants can cause congenital hypothyroidism (CH), usually presenting with neonatal goiter and permanent in duration. In cases where biallelic truncating TG variants are present, serum TG levels are undetectable, while monoallelic or biallelic missense mutations manifest with circulating TG. Here, we present a case of transient CH resulting from TG deficiency, stemming from compound heterozygosity for a m...

Background: Activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, hyperinsulinemia, and hyperleptinemia have been implicated in the pathogenesis of obesity-related arterial hypertension (AH). We therefore studied serum renin, aldosterone, leptin, and insulin levels in overweight and obese children with and without AH.Methods: 129 (77 male) overweight/obese (BMI z-score > 1.3 / > 2), children and adolescents, seek...

Background and Aim: A substantial proportion of SGA patients have a syndrome underlying their growth restriction. Most SGA cohorts comprise both syndromic (S-SGA) and non-syndromic patients (nonS-SGA) impeding delineation of the recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) response. We present a detailed characterization of the Belgian SGA cohort and analyze rhGH response based on adult height (AH).Patients & Methods: Cli...

Introduction: Regenerating endogenous pancreatic β-cells is a potentially curative yet currently elusive strategy for diabetes therapy. Mimicking the microenvironment of the developing pancreas and leveraging vascular signals, critical to pancreatic endocrinogenesis, may promote β-cell regeneration. We aimed to investigate whether recovery from experimental hypovascularization of the endocrine pancreas could trigger mouse ß-cell proliferation.<...

Introduction: The transferrin receptor (TFRC) is abundant on the surface of ß-cells compared to neighboring α- and ∂-cells, suggesting an important role of iron in ß-cell biology. The precise impact of iron on ß-cell development, function, and survival remains elusive. Here, we investigated the role of iron metabolism in mouse and human ß-cells through chemical and genetic modulation of iron supply.<str...