ESPE Abstracts

Background/Aims: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to investigate the etiology of growth hormone deficiency (GHD). There is a close relationship between structural changes in the pituitary gland and clinical status.We aimed to investigate the relationship between MRI findings and clinical symptoms and treatment response in children with GHD.Methods: The study was conducted in nine Department...

Introduction: Overgrowth syndromes comprise an heterogeneous group of rare disorders characterized by generalized or segmental excessive growth commonly associated with additional features, such as developmental delay, visceromegaly and macrocephaly. They may present with inherent health concerns and, in some instances, an increased risk of tumor development requiring prompt diagnosis and appropriate referral.Objective: ...

Background: Most congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) patients carry mutations derived from conversion events involving the pseudogene, and the remaining carry new mutations varying according to ethnicity. A good genotype-phenotype correlation is observed, allowing the use of molecular analysis in clinical practice.Objective and hypotheses: To review the molecular diagnosis in a large cohort of CAH patients in order to create a diagnostic panel in our po...

Background: Heterozygous GHR gene variants were found in 5–8% of idiopathic short stature (ISS) children. Frequent polymorphisms within GHR coding regions, but not intronic SNPs, have been investigated in ISS.Objectives: To characterize GHR gene variants in ISS children, and to test their influence on height and the peripheral GH/IGF1/IGFBPs system.Methods: GHR gene (coding/intronic flanking...

Background: Some IGFALS variants have been reported in more than one ALS-deficient family raising the question whether they originated from a single common ancestor allele (founder effect) or alternatively, as independent mutational events (hot spot). Since c.103dupG (p.E35Gfs*17) is located in a stretch of five consecutive guanine residues, where both G-duplication and deletion have been described in several families, we speculate that this region could be a hot spot...

GHD diagnosis in neonates and infants is a challenge owing to the fact that GH pharmacological stimulation tests (GHST) are not approved at this age. In a retrospective study, we found that a random GH<6.5 µg/L confirmed GHD diagnosis in neonates with clinical suspicion of GHD with high diagnostic accuracy (1). The accuracy of GH and its surrogates of action have not been set for infants with current standardized immunoassays.Objective</...

Neonatal screening tests are used for the screening of genetic, endocrine and metabolic diseases. Preterm newborns have a higher false-positive and false-negative results in neonatal screening. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of false-positive and false-negative results in the neonatal screening tests for phenylketonuria, congenital hypothyroidism, biotinidase deficiency and congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) in preterm newborns in Curitiba, to ana...

Background: A portion of 160 kb on Xp21.2 is defined as dosage sensitive sex reversal, including NR0B1, which is considered the most likely candidate gene involved in XY gonadal dysgenesis if overexpressed. The excess of NR0B1 gene product seems to disturb testicular development by down regulating NR5A1, WT1, and SOX9. Xp duplication causes insufficient SRY expression leading to testis development failure. However, NR0B1 si...

Background: Primary IGF1 deficiency can result from molecular defects in genes encoding for the GHR, IGF1, STAT5b and ALS. Heterozygous, activating mutations in the STAT3 gene have been recently described in children with severe growth failure associated with a spectrum of early-onset autoimmune disease.Case presentation: We report the molecular diagnosis in two unrelated patients with severe growth failure and IGF1 deficiency: P1, a 3.6 year ol...

Background: Several genetic defects (GHR, SHOX, GHSR, NPR2, IGFALS) have been reported in children classified as ISS. ISS children are GH sufficient and about one third of them show low IGF-I levels, suggesting some degree of GH insensitivity.Objective: To explore potential genetic defects in ISS children suspicious of GH insensitivity, selected by low IGF-I levels and low response to IGF generation test.<...