ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: 46,XY gonadal dysgenesis (GD) represents a heterogeneous group of disorders/differences of sex development (DSD) characterized by abnormal gonadal development leading to a wide phenotypic spectrum. Variable degrees of external genitalia undervirilization are observed, ranging from micropenis to female-like genitalia and partially or fully-developed Mullerian derivatives.Case Report: A 6 years-old boy follow...

Background: Rare metabolic bone diseases (RMBD) are at the crossways of Endocrinology, Nephrology, Orthopaedic surgery and Rheumatology. Most of RMBD lead to short stature, bone pain, tooth anomalies, leg deformities, bone fragility and disability of variable importance. The organization of care varies immensely amongst European countries. Several European networks dedicated to RMBD already exist, supported by societies such as ESPE, ECTS or research grants, albeit their focus...

Background: The male Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Gonadal (HPG) axis is transiently active during the first months of life with surging serum concentrations of reproductive hormones. This period, termed minipuberty, promotes masculinization, including testicular, and penile growth, as well as further testicular descent in males. It appears to be essential for priming specific cell types, i.e. Sertoli-, Leydig-, and germ cells, including subsequent growth and maturat...

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: Brain tumors are the most common solid neoplasm in children, and treatment often includes high-dose irradiation of the central nervous system (CNS). Although not universal, growth hormone deficiency (GHD) is a very common endocrine late effect after CNS irradiation in childhood. The consequences of GHD in adults are many e.g., reduced bone mineral density, fatigue, decreased lean body mass and adiposity, which implies that adults with severe GHD ...

Background: Since its introduction in 1978, assisted reproductive technologies (ART) have been widely used to treat infertility. Worldwide, over 8 million children have been conceived by ART. Literature suggests that ART-adolescents potentially display altered vascular function. However, data concerning the cardiometabolic impact on the vascular function in ART-adolescents is limited. This study aimed to investigate the effects of blood lipids and HbA1c-levels...

Background: Copeptin is a surrogate marker for arginine vasopressin (AVP) release in response to hyperosmolal stimuli such as diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). We aimed to characterize the temporal course (kinetics) of serum osmolality and copeptin during rehydration and insulin therapy in children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and DKA, and the relationship between both (dynamics).Methods: An observational multi-center study was...

Background: Loss of imprinting has been implicated in the pathogenesis of several human diseases. Monogenic causes of central precocious puberty (CPP) were identified in families with loss-of-function mutations in two paternally expressed imprinted genes: Makorin zinc finger 3 (MKRN3) and Delta-like 1 homolog (DLK1). The role of imprinting defects in CPP has not been described so far.Objective: To inves...

Introduction: Resistance to thyroid hormone alpha (RTHα) is characterised by tissue-specific hypothyroidism associated with barely normal thyroid function tests. Clinical features include dysmorphic facies, skeletal dysplasia, growth retardation, constipation, dyspraxia and intellectual deficit. Hormonal assessment often shows decreased/low-normal free thyroxine (fT4) and increased/high-normal free triiodothyronine (fT3) concentrations, resulting in a low...

Hypochondroplasia (HCH) is a skeletal dysplasia, mainly caused by mutations in the fibroblast growth factor receptor3 (FGFR3) gene and characterized by disproportionate short stature.Our main was to determine the efficacy of growth hormone therapy in children with HCH, compared with a historical cohort of 40 untreated children with HCH.Diagnosis of subjects was confirmed by the Bone Dysplasia Center2. Height standard dev...