ESPE Abstracts

Background: Brain-lung-thyroid syndrome (BLTS, OMIM# 610978) is caused by mutations in the NK2 homeobox 2 (NKX2-1; TTF1) gene affecting the three NKX2-1 expressing organs brain, lung and thyroid. The syndrome is characterized by benign hereditary chorea (BHC), infant respiratory distress syndrome (IRDS) and congenital hypothyroidism (CH). However, the clinical spectrum and severity of symptoms vary widely. Regarding the increasing number of published mutations and het...

Background: Adherence to GH treatment is a challenge.Objective and hypotheses: We analysed the impact of treatment duration, treatment success, treatment indication, age, gender, pubertal stage, and height on treatment adherence (TA) to optimise treatment success.Method: Based on the easypod autoinjector used in the Saizen-online prospective, multicenter, open-label, noninterventional study we analyzed TA in 6 months periods. TA wa...

Objectives: GH deficiency (GHD) and small for gestational age (SGA) status are associated with cardiovascular risks. We therefore investigated antiatherogenic effects of GH.Methods: Subfractions of LDL and HDL, lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) were measured at baseline, after 8 and 52 weeks of GH treatment in 51 short children born SGA (n=33) or with GHD (n=18).<p cla...

Background: Steroid 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21OHD) is the most common form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Patients present with cortisol and aldosterone deficiency as well as with hyperandrogenism, leading to virilisation in females and early adrenarche in both sexes. Requiring life-long glucocorticoid (GC) replacement, patients frequently experience daily fluctuations between GC overexposure and deficiency. Increased prevalence of metabolic disease con...

The zebrafish is established as an important model system for studying development and disease, and characterisation of the developmental and functional roles of steroids is crucial for its effective employment in this remit. Whilst oestrogens are known to be essential for female development in zebrafish, the roles of androgens in the development, maintenance and function of the male reproductive system remain unclear.In order to investigate these proces...

Cytochrome P450 side-chain cleavage enzyme, encoded by the CYP11A1 gene, catalyzes the first and rate-limiting step of steroid hormone biosynthesis. Previous morpholino knockdown studies described the divergent functions of the two cyp11a paralogs in zebrafish. Cyp11a1 has been suggested to be required for early development, whereas cyp11a2 is a functional equivalent of human CYP11A1 and is essential for the initiation and maintenan...

Objectives: PATRO Children is an observational, international, longitudinal study of the long-term safety of a recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH; Omnitrope®, Sandoz). The effect of rhGH treatment on growth and adult height (AH) is assessed as a secondary objective of the study.Methods: This ongoing study is conducted in hospitals and specialised endocrinology clinics across 14 countries. The study po...

Increasing evidence suggests that the aetiology of disorders of sex development cannot be solely explained by genetic alterations. It is highly likely that environmental factors hitting susceptible genetic backgrounds are partly causative. Zebrafish sex is highly plastic during development, making this species an ideal model for investigation of endocrine disruption and gonadal development and function. However, the hormonal regulation of these processes in zebrafish is poorly...

Introduction: Adrenocortical tumors are very rare in children, with a prevalence of just 0.3 cases/million/year. Autonomic hormone production by adrenal cortical tumors may cause peripheral precocious puberty.Case report: A 4-year-old boy was presented by his parents because of pubertal behavior with aggressive features and a significant increase in the size of the penis. The parents also noticed a strong growth spurt and sweat odor. The boy had a good g...

Aim and background: Growth hormone (GH) treatment of short children born SGA and its effects on growth varies greatly between treated individuals. In the present study we tested the performance of a preexisting growth prediction model (Ranke et al.; JCE&M 2003 pp. 125–131) to estimate 1st-year height velocity (HV) in a german subcohort of prepubertal children born SGA treated with GH (Omnitrope).Methods: 190 treatment-naïve prepu...