ESPE Abstracts

Triple A syndrome (AAAS) is a rare, incurable, recessive disorder, characterised by achalasia, alacrima, adrenal failure and a neurodegenerative phenotype. The AAAS gene encodes ALADIN, is a nuclear pore complex (NPC) protein necessary for nuclear import of DNA protective molecules, important for redox homeostasis. ALADIN’s role is not fully characterised: its discovery at the centrosome and the endoplasmic reticulum suggests a role outside the NPC. To date, the ...

Background: Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) causes early-onset extreme obesity and hyperphagia that is hypothesized to arise from leptin receptor dysfunction. Setmelanotide, a melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) peptide agonist, has been shown to induce weight loss in individuals affected by other rare genetic obesity disorders resulting from leptin-melanocortin pathway dysfunction upstream of MC4R.Objective: Report preliminary data on body weight, hunger scores,...

Background: The peptides obestatin and adropin are thought to regulate glucose and lipid metabolism, weight gain, and fluid intake in adults. The roles of obestatin and adropin in the regulation of weight and glucose and lipid metabolism in Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) and non-syndromic pediatric obesity are poorly understood. This study compares the concentrations of obestatin and adropin in infants and children with PWS and age- and BMI-z matched controls, and explores the as...

Background: The pathophysiology of the increased fracture risk in Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) remains unclear.Objectives: Perform multimodality assessment to determine the effects of T1DM on bone health and fractures.Methods: Thirty-two children with T1DM at a median (range) age of 13.7 years (10.4, 16.7), and median HbA1c 65mmol/mol (27,100) were recruited. Serum bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP) and c-terminal telopeptide type ...

Background and aim: Metformin is widely used in Type 2 diabetes, with increasing reports of a potential bone protective role. We investigated the role of AMPK in mediating the effects of metformin on mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) differentiation to either osteoblasts or adipocytes.Methods: Confluent mouse MSCs (C3H10T1/2), wild type (WT) and AMPK knockout (KO) mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs) were treated with metformin(500 μM), AMPK-activator A769662(...

Background: Obesity is a persistent disorder that almost universally recurs following treatment, suggesting a disruption on central nervous system control over energy homeostasis. Recent literature suggests that hypothalamic inflammation may have an important role on obesity pathogenesis. This inflammatory reaction, which histologically appears as a reactive gliosis, may be detected using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and has just been shown in rodent models and adults.</p...

Background: DLK1 or PREF1 is an imprinted gene highly expressed from the paternal allele in embryonic tissues and placenta. It has been recently implicated in adipose tissue expansion and diabetes development. The human rs1802710 polymorphism (SNP) in DLK1 gene has been associated with early-onset extreme obesity but its role determining growth is unknown.Objective and hypotheses: To study the preferential paternal transmission...

Background: The phenotypic effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may depend on their parental origin. PLAGL1 is an imprinted gene expressed from the paternal allele in placenta that is associated with fetal growth, transient neonatal diabetes mellitus and postnatal growth disorders. The mechanisms whereby PLAG1 regulates fetal growth are, however, unknown.Objective and hypotheses: To study if the preferential paternal transm...

Background: Transient hyperinsulinemic hypoglycaemia (THH) is associated with risk factors such as prematurity, maternal diabetes mellitus, perinatal hypoxia, small for gestational age (SGA) and syndromes like Beckwith Wiedemann syndrome (BWS).Objective: To present the features of a large cohort of patients with THH managed at a Quaternary referral centre.Method: Patients who had neonatal onset HH that resolved before the 2nd birth...

Background: Consultations for infantile hypercalcaemia have increased at Sydney Children’s Hospital since guidelines for vitamin D3 supplementation during pregnancy were introduced in 2006. Recent nationwide shortages of low-calcium formula (LCF) suggest this problem may be widespread.Aim: To determine if infantile hypercalcaemia is occurring more commonly, identify potential aetiologies and clinical significance.Me...