ESPE Abstracts

Background: Hashimoto Thyroiditis (HT) and Graves Disease (GD) are conditions known to be caused by abnormal immune response against self-tissues. The biological processes at molecular lever are still poorly understood. A few epigenetic studies have been published so far.Objective: To investigate whether there are differences in DNA methylation within the HLADRB1, CD40L, FOXP3, CTLA4, FCRL3, IL2RA and PTPN22 promoters between young patients with autoimmu...

Background: A positive association between osteoprotegerin (OPG) levels and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality has been recently reported. Additionally, there is evidence that OPG in obese adults participates in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases by promoting inflammation, which is known to be linked to insulin resistance (IR). There is few data regarding the relationship among obesity-IR-OPG, in youth.Objective and hypot...

Background: Alterations in DNA methylation status of specific genetic loci may affect gene expression, thus leading to autoimmunopathies.Objective and hypotheses: This study aimed to investigate possible differences in DNA methylation pattern between type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) youngsters and healthy controls.Method: Ten T1DM participants and 10 age-/gender-matched controls were enrolled. DNA was extracted from white blood cell...

Introduction: Protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 22 (PTPN22) is a well-established genetic locus of type 1 diabetes (T1D). The aim of the present study is to compare the methylation level of PTPN22 between children and adolescents of Greek origin with T1D and healthy controls.Patients and Methods: Twenty T1D participants and 20 age-/gender-matched healthy youngsters were enrolled. DNA was extracted from white blood cells, the...

Introduction: Insulin (INS) gene is reported to be the most important gene involved in Type 1 Diabetes (T1D); its expression is inversely correlated with methylation at CpG sites. Hypermethylated primers are associated with decreased expression.Aim: The present study aims to investigate possible differences in DNA methylation pattern between T1D youngsters and healthy controls.Patients and Methods: Twenty T1D parti...

Introduction: HLA-G gene is involved in the control of immune response. It plays a primary role on immune tolerance and may participate in controlling autoimmune responses serving as a potential independent susceptibility marker. HLA-G has been isolated in some secretory granules and on the cell surface of primary islet cells induced to secrete insulin. Subsequently, it could be hypothesized that HLA-G methylation at pancreatic islet could sustain T cell activation and onset o...