ESPE Abstracts

Background: Maternal obesity can have long-term consequences for the offspring’s health, including increased risk of type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The C19MC imprinted locus on chromosome 19q13.4 comprises a cluster of 46 microRNAs, which are usually expressed only in the placenta and from the paternal allele exclusively. Besides its role favouring trophoblast migration, the C19MC locus is deregulated in several human cancers. It is unknown ...

Background and Aim: A substantial proportion of SGA patients have a syndrome underlying their growth restriction. Most SGA cohorts comprise both syndromic (S-SGA) and non-syndromic patients (nonS-SGA) impeding delineation of the recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) response. We present a detailed characterization of the Belgian SGA cohort and analyze rhGH response based on adult height (AH).Patients & Methods: Cli...

Background: Reaching a definitive diagnosis in individuals with XY DSD is challenging and the time taken to reach a diagnosis is an important clinical benchmark that has not been sufficiently explored in this group of conditions.Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic process with a focus on the time to diagnosis in children with XY DSD reported via the e-reporting platform (e-REC) of the European Registries for Rare Endoc...

Background: In a large fraction of patients with clinically presumed Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, no mutation of the Androgen Receptor gene can be detected. However, established Sanger sequencing techniques of the AR gene are often limited to the coding region.Objective and Hypotheses: To set up a next generation sequencing (NGS) approach of the entire AR locus (including UTRs, exons, introns, up- and downstream regions) for a comprehensive ...

Background: Hypospadias affects approximately 1/200 newborn males. Based on the testicular dysgenesis syndrome hypothesis, some may be suspected of having persistent testicular dysfunction later in life. Few clinical data currently support this hypothesis.Methods: Cross-sectional assessment of hypospadias cases (n = 193) and controls (n = 50), aged 16-21 years, recruited at Ghent University Hospital and...

Introduction: The diagnosis and treatment of patients with rare diseases is often difficult as most clinicians do not encounter them. Therefore, centralization and collaboration between centers of expertise is necessary. European Reference Networks (ERN’s) such as RareEndoERN provide a platform for this, with one of its main thematic groups having a specific focus on rare growth and obesity disorders. Genetic obesity encompasses a heterogeneous group of c...

Background/Aims: Cryptorchidism or undescended testis is a prevalent congenital urogenital condition affecting male newborns with an incidence rate ranging from 1.0 to 4.6%. Mouse models have implicated INSL3 and its receptor RXFP2 (formerly known as GREAT or LGR8) in the development of the condition. RXFP2 acts as a G protein-coupled receptor that triggers the generation of cAMP by binding INSL3. But despite the established role in testicular descent, so far ...

Background: Animal studies have reported that exposure to synthetic glucocorticoids (sGCs) may lead to inter- and transgenerational effects on offspring phenotype. However, many of these studies are poorly designed, do not account for possible non-epigenetic confounds, and cannot determine the mechanism(s) by which gamete epimutations are induced.Objectives: Firstly, to determine whether developmental exposure of mice to...

Deficiency of pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A2 (PAPP-A2), a protease that regulates IGF-1 availability, causes postnatal growth failure and changes in bone size and density in humans and mice. The present study aimed to determine the effects of daily administration (from PND5 to PND35) of recombinant murine (rm) PAPP-A2, in comparison to rmGH and rmIGF1, on mouse auxology and bone microarchitecture in homozygous Pappa2 knock-out (ko/ko) mice of both sexes. Hormone treatm...

Background: Marfan syndrome is an autosomal dominant genetic disorder with skeletal, cardiac, and ocular involvement. Mutations in the fibrillin-1 gene on chromosome 15 are responsible for the development of the syndrome.Objective: To present one case of neonatal Marfan syndrome.Case: The patient was a 1-day-old female neonate who was born at 36 weeks gestation via normal delivery. Her body weight was 2900 g and height 48 cm. Ultra...