ESPE Abstracts

Background: The association of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), adrenal insufficiency and gonadal dysgenesis is well recognised. Some children have been reported to develop monosomy 7 and myelodysplasia. However, the genetic basis of this condition was poorly understood.Objective and hypotheses: Our aim was to investigate the genetic basis of eight children with IUGR, adrenal insufficiency and gonadal failure and additional features including seve...

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...

Background: Paediatric bone marrow transplantation (BMT) can lead to endocrine dysfunctions due to common pre-procedure protocols involving chemo and radiotherapy.Objective and hypotheses: To evaluate the prevalence and time-of-onset of endocrine dysfunctions after BMT in children and adolescents.Method: A retrospective cohort-study design was performed. The inclusion criteria were: age range less than 18 years old at the time of t...

Background: Hypogonadism has been associated with cardiovascular disease. However, little is known about the cardiovascular impact of hypogonadism during development. Using hypospadias as a surrogate of hypogonadism, we investigated whether hypospadias is associated with vascular dysfunction during childhood and whether it is a risk factor for adult cardiovascular disease.Methods: Our human study spanned molecular mechan...

Background: X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH) is caused by mutations in PHEX which increases serum Fibroblast Growth Factor 23 (FGF23) concentrations leading to phosphate wasting and osteomalacia. Burosumab is a recombinant fully human IgG1 monoclonal antibody which selectively inhibits the activity of FGF23. In clinical trials burosumab demonstrated significant clinical improvements in radiological rickets severity, growth, and biochemistry among XLH c...

21-hydroxylase deficiency (21OHD) is the most common form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and is caused by mutations in the CYP21A2 gene. 21OHD causes a wide array of clinical symptoms that result from gluco- and mineralocorticoid deficiency and adrenal androgen excess. In most cases, supra-physiological glucocorticoid doses are necessary which may cause short stature, obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular and metabolic co-morbidity with reduced quality of lif...

Background: Turner Syndrome (TS) is a chromosomopathy affecting 1 out of 2000-2500 live births. Although short stature, heart disease and ovarian dysgenesis are the best-known features, patients have variable cognitive impairments. Aim of this study is to analyze the cognitive profile of a cohort of patients enrolled between February 2018-March 2023.Methods: 49 TS patients [Group A: 45, X0 (n=13); Group B: mosai...

Introduction: Gonadectomy may be indicated in people with differences or disorders of sex development (DSD). Based on historical data from the International-DSD (I-DSD) Registry that showed considerable practice variation, this I-DSD care quality improvement project seeks to determine, through prospective surveillance, the frequency of gonadectomy in individuals with DSD internationally.Methods: All existing I-DSD centre...

Epiphyseal growth plates, tiny cartilage discs located to the end of long bones, are necessary for longitudinal growth of the skeleton. When and why these structures appeared as individual organs was not very clear until recently. Bringing together an evolutionary approach with comparative analysis, mathematical modelling and both physical and biological experiments allowed to reveal that spatial allocation of the growth plate reduces mechanical stresses within the structure, ...

Autoimmune polyendocrinopathy-candidiasis-ectodermal dystrophy syndrome (APECED, OMIM240300) is a rare monogenic disease due to biallelic mutations in the Autoimmune Regulator (AIRE) gene. This encodes for a thymus-enriched transcription factor responsible for central immune tolerance. Classic diagnostic criteria are the presence of two of main symptoms of chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis (CMC), hypoparathyroidism (HP) and Addison’s disease (AD). Non-endocrine autoimmun...