ESPE Abstracts

Background: Weight status in children is commonly defined using BMI (SDS), but this measure is problematic due to the skewness of the BMI distribution and its age-dependant increase. In addition, it is difficult for physicians or parents alike to grasp what a certain value means. Excess body weight (EBW) is frequently used in adult patients in the context of bariatric surgery.Objective and hypotheses: An appropriate definition for the paediatric populati...

Background: The androgen receptor (AR) is essential for the development of primary and secondary male characteristics and is activated by its ligand dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Reduced AR activity can cause undervirilization and infertility. We recently developed an assay to test AR function as a ligand-dependent transcriptional activator in human genital skin fibroblasts (GF). So far it is unclear, if AR expression levels correlate with AR function in the male external genital...

Human growth is a complex trait. A considerable number of gene defects have been shown to cause short stature, but there are only few examples of genetic causes of non-syndromic tall stature. Besides rare variants with large effects and common risk alleles with small effect size, oligogenic effects may contribute to this phenotype. Exome sequencing was carried out in a tall male (height 3.5 SDS) and his parents. Filtered damaging variants with high CADD scores were validated b...

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...

Beckwith Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) is a rare overgrowth disorder characterised by macroglossia, exomphalos, lateralised overgrowth, organomegaly, hyperinsulinism, and an increased risk of embryonic tumor during early life. In about 80% of BWS cases, molecular defects are identified at the imprinted 11p15.5 region which contains the IGF2 and the CDKN1C genes (most patients show methylation defects at either imprinting control region IC1 or IC2, or paternal unip...

Introduction: Primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI) is a potentially life-threatening condition that requires appropriate diagnosis and treatment. The most common cause of PAI is congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), but other well-established aetiologies include metabolic and autoimmune disorders, and physical damage. Mutations in more than 30 genes have now been associated with PAI, with considerable biochemical and phenotypic overlap. It is therefore importan...

Human growth results from an increase in cell size, cell division and amount of interstitium and is determined by the complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors. Over the last 14 years our group has been studying growth through the genetic interrogation of rare individuals presenting with syndromic overgrowth defined as an increased height and/or head circumference, compared to the age-related peer group, in combination with an intellectual disability. In the years...

Background: Gender differences in sex steroids and IGF1 are well known from pubertal years into adulthood. Few studies report data from pre-school years.Objective and hypotheses: To study gender specific changes in sex steroids and IGF1 at birth and at 5 years of age and correlate these with auxological measurements. There are gender differences in IGF1 levels due to differences in sex steroids already at birth and during pre-school years.<p class="a...

Background: Accumulation of fat mass in the development of obesity may result from hypertrophy and/or hyperplasia and is frequently associated with adipose tissue (AT) dysfunction in adults. However, the onset and mechanisms of AT dysfunction are not entirely understood.Objective and hypotheses: We assessed composition, function, lipolysis, and inflammation in 171 AT samples from lean and obese children and adolescents (aged 0 – 18 years) to evaluat...

Background: Small for gestational age (SGA) children have reportedly increased DHEAS levels during prepubertal years. However, steroid hormones have not been followed longitudinally in a healthy population compared to body composition.Aims and objectives: To evaluate steroid hormone patterns in prepubertal children correlated to visceral fat measures.Methods: Body composition was investigated with magnetic resonance (MR) of truncal...