ESPE Abstracts

Background: Central precocious puberty (CPP) is mostly idiopathic, however, familial cases of CPP and evidence of genetic factors on pubertal timing by genome-wide association studies suggested genetic causes of CPP.Objective and hypotheses: Molecular defects in six genes (KISS1, KISS1R, LIN28A, LIN28B, TAC3, and TACR3) have been known to cause early activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary–gonad...

Background: Homozygous natriuretic peptide receptor-2 (NPR2) mutations cause acromesomelic dysplasia, type Maroteaux, a skeletal dysplasia with extreme disproportionate short stature and recently, heterozygous NPR2 mutations have been identified also in patients with idiopathic short stature (ISS, 2–6%). SHOX mutations are found in ~2–5% of ISS cases and ~70% of Léri-Weill dyschondrosteosis (LWD) cases, characterized by disproportionat...

Cystic Fibrosis (CF), is due to CF-transmembrane-conductance-regulator (CFTR) loss-of-function. Significant heterogeneity exists between patients, suggesting potential epigenetic regulation, and comorbidities develop with time. MiRNAs are non-coding RNAs that act as epigenetic regulators. Although many studies have focused on the role for miRNAs in regulating CFTR gene expression, little attention has been given to how CFTR influences their expression and how this affects grow...

Genomic imprints in humans are epigenetic marks inscribed upon our genomes from the earliest stages of our development, forming a permanent memory of our parental origin. Approximately 1% of human genes are imprinted, with expression that is permanently restricted to either the paternal or the maternal DNA. Genetic or epigenetic errors of imprinting cause a range of imprinting disorders, each with distinctive effects upon growth, development, metabolism and behaviour.<...

Keywords: Short stature, Noonan syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, Silver-Russell syndrome, genetic syndromesIntroduction: Short stature is one of the major components of dysmorphic syndromes. Growth failure may be due to a wide variety of mechanisms, either related to the growth hormone (GH)/insulin-like growth factor axis or to underlying unknown pathologies. At present, GH therapy is used in most syndromic disorders, al...

Background: IGF1 and IGF2 are major regulators of somatic growth acting mainly through the IGF1R. Variants in IGF1 and in IGF1R were identified to cause intrauterine and postnatal growth retardation but variants in IGF2 have not yet been reported.Method: In a multigenerational family four affected members (two siblings, one first degree cousin and the daughter of one sibling) exhibited severe growth retardation with heights between −4.2 and −...

Hypomethylation of the ICR1 in 11p15 is the epigenetic alteration causing Silver Russel Syndrome (SRS) in over 50% of the patients. It is reported that 7-38% of SRS patients have multi-locus imprinting disturbance (MLID). MLID has been suggested to result from maternal mutations affecting the acquisition or maintenance of imprints. We report on a patient with MLID who presented with features of SRS and Temple syndrome in addition to severe 46 XY hypovirilisation, pseudohypopar...

Parental imprinting is an epigenetic process leading to monoallelic expression of certain genes depending on their parental origin. Imprinting disorders are a set of rare diseases that mainly affect growth and metabolism from birth to adulthood. These disorders are mainly due to methylation defects in imprinting control region that drive the abnormal expression of imprinted genes. Moreover, patients with imprinting disorders may present overlapping clinical features that can b...

Introduction: Linear growth is a complex process involving the interplay of genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors. Current knowledge sheds importance to the GH-IGF-1 axis, chondrocyte regulation and extra-cellular matrix in the growth plate, and other fundamental intracellular processes. Despite these advancements, the genetics of short stature are not fully understood. This study aims to contribute by investigating a unique cohort of children from co...

Keywords: growth hormone, small for gestational age, genetic defects; Silver-Russell syndrome; growth hormone deficiencyObjectives: To evaluate the influencing factors of GH treatment in Chinese short stature children born SGA.Methods: This was a single-center, retrospective, cross-sectional survey in China. Of 101 patients were identified born SGA and 66 short stature children bor...