ESPE Abstracts

Background: The anogenital distance (AGD) is considered a valid marker of altered androgen action in utero. Recently, reduced AGD has been shown in males with hypospadias, cryptorchidism, reduced semen quality and infertility. It has also been proposed as a new marker to be used by clinicians when managing patients with Disorders of Sex Development. However, little normative data exist and measurement methods vary.Objective and hypotheses: We established...

Background: Short stature is one of the most common conditions referred to pediatric endocrinology clinics, and treatment with growth hormone (GH) is useful to improve height velocity and adult height, but response may be variable. Growth hormone therapy is indicated in several conditions in pediatric patients, including growth hormone deficiency (GHD) and children born short for gestational age (SGA). We investigated differences in treatment response in Indon...

Background: Somapacitan is a reversible albumin-binding growth hormone (GH) derivative developed for once-weekly administration in patients with GH deficiency (GHD). It consists of a human GH backbone, similar to endogenous human GH, with one amino acid substitution, attached to an albumin binder via a linker chain.Objective: Absorption, metabolism and excretion (AME) of somapacitan were investigated in a Phase 1 trial (...

Introduction: Of any pituitary dysfunction following brain injury, growth hormone (GH) deficiency (GHD) is the most prevalent. The cut-point for defining GHD has been placed at 7 ng/mL representing optimum test performance. We hypothesised this cut-off may be set too low for genetically taller children with acquired brain injury, notably brain tumours, who demonstrate severe growth failure but repeatedly fail to meet diagnostic thresholds for GH replacement until several centi...

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in obese children is a diagnostic challenge. Presently recommended markers of liver steatosis and risk of progression to fibrosis are: ultrasound imaging (US) and liver aminotransferases (ALT and AST). Owing to the poor sensitivity of these tests, there is a need to search for biomarkers which could indicate early stages of NAFLD. The enhanced liver fibrosis test (ELF) based on the combination of serum concentration of hyal...

Introduction: Salivary androgens represent a non-invasive marker of puberty that may have utility in population studies as well as in the clinical arena.Objectives: To establish normal reference values of salivary androgens using LC-MS/MS and demonstrate the correlations between salivary androgens and pubertal development in boys.Methods: School-based adolescent cohort study with t...

Background: 16p11.2 microdeletion is most common chromosomal anomaly associated with syndromic obesity. The presence of a large number of flanking segmental duplications/low-copy repeat sequences with a high degree of sequence identity in the short arm of chromosome 16 (16p) leads to recurrent deletions and duplications as a consequence of non-allelic homologous recombination. A recurrent 600kb microdeletion is one of the most frequent genomic imbalances in 16...

Introduction: Short stature is a frequent reason for consultation in the paediatric age group. After appropriate clinical, radiological and laboratory evaluation, up to 60-80% of children are classified as idiopathic short stature (ISS) because no underlying cause can be found. Nowadays, the spreading of molecular is revealing that many of the patients initially classified as TBI, have variants in genes involved in the growth plate development. IHH gene is inv...

Background: The increasing incidence of obesity is a serious global public health challenge. Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are exogenous chemicals that interfere with the endocrine system, including adipose tissue. Increasing evidence from epidemiological, animal, and in vitro studies shows that EDCs, in particular bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates (e.g. di-ethyl-hexyl-phthalate, DEHP), can affect body weight, adipogenesis and circulating lipid profile,...

Background: Over the past several decades, the age of pubertal onset in girls has shifted downward worldwide. Several factors including genetic predisposition, psychosocial and socio-economic conditions, diet and ethnicity may have contributed to this phenomenon. Epidemiological and animal studies have shown that the exposure to BPA and DEHP may be associated with early onset of puberty in girls.Objective: To investigate...