ESPE Abstracts

Background: Congenital Hyperinsulinism International (CHI) is an international non-profit organization focused on improving the lives of patients and families living with hyperinsulinism (HI). Despite many advances in the care of patients with HI, long term neurologic outcomes have not significantly improved, highlighting the need for CHI’s goals for robust and rapidly translatable research. We describe the development of a collaborative research network...

Background: Congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI) is a rare disease affecting neonates, infants, and children. CHI is characterized by dysregulated insulin secretion resulting in severe recurrent hypoglycemia. Early treatment is necessary to limit the risk of neurologic and developmental sequelae. Current treatment options are limited and inadequate. Dasiglucagon (DASI) is a glucagon analog suitable for continuous subcutaneous infusion which has been shown to raise...

Background: Severe Ovarian Dysgenesis (OD), a rare heterogeneous XX disorder of Sex Development presents clinically with primary amenorrhea, hypergonadotrophic hypogonadism and infertility. The genetic basis of OD remains unknown in 70% of cases. To identify novel causes of OD, we study patients in which known genes have been excluded.Methods: Whole-exome-sequencing was performed in a 14.5y old Ashkenazi Jewish, non-cons...

Background: Androgen Insensitivity syndrome (AIS), the most common cause of XY DSD, is an X-linked recessive allelic disorder caused by Androgen Receptor (AR) gene mutations. The complete form (CAIS) stems from abrogation of AR activity and is characterized by an external female phenotype and scarce pubic hair, as well as lack of Mullerian structures. Postnatal gonadotropin and testosterone levels are not increased, and the classical ‘Mini-puberty’...

Background: Though the genes and signalling pathways involved in sexual development have only been partially elucidated, it is known that their disruption can result in disorders of sexual development (DSD). XX ovarian dysgenesis (XX-OD) is a rare, genetically heterogeneous disorder characterized by underdeveloped and dysfunctional ovaries. We previously identified a novel missense mutation in Nucleoporin107 (Nup107, c.1339G>A, p.D447N), an essential compo...

Homozygous loss-of-function mutations of the calcium-sensing receptor gene (CaSR) are associated with neonatal severe hyperparathyroidism (NSHPT), a life-threatening condition with a challenging treatment approach.We report a 7-day-old-female infant who was admitted to our Pediatric Department due to poor sucking. On examination she was lethargic and hypotonic. Laboratory evaluation revealed extreme hypercalcemia of 23.54 mg/dL (N: 7.6–10.4...

Background: NKX2-2 gene mutation (reported in 3 cases worldwide) cause severe IUGR and neonatal diabetes. Beta-cells of the mice Nkx2-2 (−/−) model were recently shown to convert into cells producing the appetite-promoting peptide ghrelin. Classically, ghrelin secretion is stimulated during fast and suppressed by nutrients or glucose ingestion in all age groups. In obese children this ghrelin suppression reaches a minimum of 60% of base...

Introduction: The term lipodystrophy describes a rare disease subdivided into a heterogenous group of even rarer subforms. The rarity of this disease makes research in this area extremely difficult and international co-operation is mandatory to accumulate data sets of sufficient size. The European Consortium of Lipodystrophy (ECLip) consisting of an association of European experts in the field of lipodystrophy has therefore decided to set up a registry for patients with lipody...

Introduction: Pubertal growth is hormone dependent. The anthropometric (height, weight) and sexual (Tanner stage (TS)) changes are accompanied by growth in foot length. However, the relationship between changes in foot length and other anthropometry remains unclear. Our aim was to determine how changes in foot length relate to growth parameters (height and weight), self-rated TS and serum sex steroids.Methods: We used data from the Adolescent Rural Cohor...

Background: SGA is defined as birth weight under 2 standard deviations (SD) from the mean. Previous studies indicate that 10% of SGA babies do not have “catch-up growth” (CUG). They are eligible for growth hormone (GH) therapy to increase final height. The unexpected low demand for GH therapy in SGA babies, triggered us to survey the actual incidence of SGA and failure in CUG.Objective and hypotheses: To find the actual incidence of SGA and fai...