ESPE Abstracts

Background: Clinical outcome data of patients with adrenal insufficiency, who were affected by COVID-19, have been collected as a common initiative by the ESE Rare Disease Committee and ENDO-ERN via the European Registries for Rare Endocrine Conditions (EuRRECa) project. Methods: This Webropol-based questionnaire included a total of 32 questions collecting quantitative and qualitative data. Of the 19 medical centres out ...

Abnormal DNA methylation contributes to tumor progression and is emerging as a prognostic marker in several types of cancers. To investigate whether DNA methylation is associated with pediatric adrenocortical tumor (pACT) presentation and patient prognosis, we analyzed the methylation profile of 57 tumors (MethylationEPIC BeadChip Array-Illumina) and patients’ clinicopathological features and outcome. The study comprehended 40 girls and 17 boys, with median age at diagnos...

The 1st lockdown from March to May 2020 probably led to an increase in the number of cases of idiopathic central precocious puberty in several European countries. Two Italian studies showed this, as well as a Spanish and a Turkish one. We performed a retrospective study with all the children who came to our department for a 1st appointment or a check-up for pubertal signs between 01/04/2017 and 31/03/2021. We checked the data of 765 files and kept only the children with a diag...

Context: Puberty timing is highly heritable. Recent genome-wide association studies, comparing timing of menarche in girls to timing of voice-break and facial hair in boys, revealed a largely overlapping genetic architecture of female and male pubertal timing. However, it is also known that genetic heterogeneity between sexes exists for some loci.Objectives: We hypothesized that self-reported relative parental pubertal t...

Background: Aromatase (CYP19A1) a member of cytochrome P450 protein family is a major steroid metabolizing enzyme which converts androgens to estrogens. Mutations in aromatase can lead to autosomal recessive aromatase deficiency. An R192H mutation in CYP19A1 described earlier caused severe phenotype of aromatase deficiency with regressive virilization of the 46,XX new-born, but without signs of androgen excess during pregnancy. Computational studies suggested that R192H disrup...

Background: Cytochromes P450 proteins metabolize several steroid hormones, drugs and xenobiotics. All cytochromes P450s in the endoplasmic reticulum require P450 oxidoreductase (POR) for their catalytic activities. Earlier it has been shown that mutations in POR cause metabolic disorders of steroid hormone biosynthesis and also affect some drug metabolizing P450 activities. We aimed to characterize the mutations identified in nonclinical samples to access their effects on ster...

Background: Thyroid imaging is recommended to determine the aetiology of congenital hypothyroidism (CHT). Currently scintigraphy is the gold standard imaging modality. Negative scinitigraphy despite the presence of thyroid tissue may lead to a spurious diagnosis of athyreosis. Few centres routinely perform both scinitgraphy and ultrasound so that the incidence of misclassified athyreosis is unknown.Aim: To describe the incidence of sonographically normal...

Background: The steroidogenic enzyme aromatase (CYP19A1) is a protein located in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) that catalyzes the conversion of androgens to estrogens. Both deficiency and excess of aromatase activity lead to disease states implicating its role in human biology. Cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes in ER use reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate through cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase (POR) for their metabolic activities. Mutations in POR cause disorders of ...

Background: It is well known that growth hormone (GH) brings about several effects, involving bone, body composition, lipids and glucose homeostasis. However, the complex interplay between these parameters is rather poorly studied in children with childhood-onset-GH deficiency (CO-GHD).Objective and hypotheses: To investigate lipids, adipokines (leptin- adiponectin- resistin) and glucose homeostasis and their relationship with bone and body composition i...

Background: GH treatment is effective in improving adult height (AH) in short children born Small for Gestational Age. If SGA children are short at the start of puberty, they could benefit from combined GH/GnRH Analogue (GnRHa) treatment.Objective and hypotheses: To determine the timing and progression of pubertal development in short SGA children, comparing GH treatment with combined GH/GnRHa treatment.Method: For the present stud...