ESPE Abstracts

Background: Growth hormone (GH) has been used for over 50 years to benefit both children with GH deficiency (GHD) and other forms of short stature as well as to correct the metabolic abnormalities found in adults with GHD (AGHD). Moreover, low IGF levels have been associated with the risk of diabetes, heart disease and osteoporosis. On the other hand, epidemiological studies suggest that high IGF-1 levels may be associated with cancer risk in the general population. Furthermor...

Background: Although growth hormone (GH) and the GH releasing hormone receptor (GHRHR) are known as etiologic factors in non-syndromic isolated growth hormone deficiency (IGHD), very few mutations have been identified in this rare condition (accounting for only 6–12.5% and 0–6.7% of IGHD cases depending on studies). The functional consequences of the identified variants have rarely been assessed.Objective and hypotheses: To assess the contribut...

Background: Mutations in the gene encoding LHX4, a homeodomain-containing factor with two LIM domains, are responsible for dominant hypopituitarisms with incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity. To date, only 14 unambiguous LHX4 mutations have been reported. Among those cases, 12 had an absent or ectopic posterior pituitary (EPP) and/or an abnormal sella turcica.Objective and hypotheses: To i) assess the contribution of LHX4 in combined pituitary...

Purpose: Isolated growth hormone deficiency (IGHD) is a rare condition mainly caused by mutations in GH1. The aim of this study was to assess the contribution of GHRHR mutations to IGHD in a very large cohort of patients.Methods: All GHRHR coding exons and flanking intronic regions were sequenced in 312 unrelated patients with non-syndromic IGHD. Functional consequences of all newly identified missense variants were assessed <e...

Background: GLI2 is a zinc-finger transcription factor of the SHH signaling pathway, expressed during ventral forebrain and pituitary development. GLI2 mutations account for microforms of dominant holoprosencephaly. So far, only 15 unambiguous mutations were found in hypopituitarism –essentially combined pituitary hormone deficiency (CPHD)– frequently associated with holoprosencephaly-like malformations and/or polydactyly.Objective and...

Background: Bi-allelic GHR mutations are classically responsible for Laron syndrome, a severe growth hormone (GH) resistance syndrome. A few GHR missense mutations have also been implicated in mild GH resistance or idiopathic short stature. IGFALS mutations are responsible for recessive or semi-dominant short stature with normal GH provocative test contrasting with extremely low IGF-I levels.Objective and hypotheses: To assess the contribution of GHR and...

Background: Among individuals with DSD, some conditions are more prone to develop distress about ones assigned gender (gender dysphoria; GD) than others. For instance, the percentage of gender change and GD in female-raised persons with testosterone synthesis deficiencies is around 50%, whereas GD hardly seems to occur in complete androgen deficiency syndrome. Unfortunately in many studies information on GD and gender role changes often cannot easily be determined and clinical...

Recently, knowledge about the molecular genetic of male infertility has increased. However, in many cases, the etiology of infertility remains unknown. The Cancer/testis antigen: Fetal and Adult Testis Expressed (FATE-1), mainly expressed in human testis has been described two decades ago for his potential role in male infertility. FATE-1 is located on the X chromosome, contains a putative SF1 binding site and is co-expressed with SRY in human fetal testis. To date, only few d...

Background: TV-1106 (Teva Pharmaceuticals Ltd) is a genetically fused recombinant GH (rhGH) and human serum albumin in development as a once weekly treatment of GH deficiency (GHD) in children and adults. TV-1106 has an extended duration of action compared to daily rhGH treatment, reducing the frequency of injections.Objective and hypotheses: The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of TV-1106 were evaluated in phase 2 study using non-compartmental anal...

Background: Recent studies in multiple models of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) have demonstrated the role of mitochondrial abnormalities in the pathogenesis of this disease and its complications. Humanin is a potent cyto-protective and ‘metaboloprotective’ molecule in vitro and in vivo, including the protection of β cells from apoptosis, improvements in insulin secretion and action, and both prevention and treatment of diabetes in the NOD mou...