ESPE Abstracts

Background: Silver–Russell syndrome (SRS; OMIM 180860) is a genetically and clinically heterogeneous low birthweight syndrome characterised by poor postnatal growth and a number of variable dysmorphic features. Small-for-gestational age infants in general have an increased risk of metabolic complications, some initially occurring in late childhood and adolescence.Objective and hypotheses: To identify i) response to GH based on genotype and ii) devel...

Introduction: Diabetes insipidus (DI) is a rare disease in children. In most cases it is acquired and central in origin (CDI). The most frequent cause of acquired CDI is brain tumor and idiopathic forms represent between 20-50% of cases, depending on the series. Autoimmune hypophysitis is a rare cause of DI and is a presumptive diagnosis with a suggestive brain MRI and ACTH and TSH deficiencies as the most common hormonal involvement, although it can manifest ...

Background: Low birth weight (LBW) followed by a rapid postnatal catch-up in weight predisposes individuals to a central distribution of body fat, which is reverted by metformin. Growth-and-differentiation-factor-15 (GDF15) plays an important role in the regulation of energy homeostasis, reducing food intake and lowering body weight. We aimed to assess whether GDF15 concentrations are raised by long-term metformin treatment in LBW/catch-up girls with precociou...

Background: Epigenetic alterations due to maternal obesity may contribute to an increased metabolic risk in the offspring. IRS1 has a critical role in insulin signalling and its methylation has been previously associated with body fat distribution and glucose metabolism in human adipose tissue. The relationship between IRS1 methylation in birth tissues and obesity parameters in the offspring is unknown.Objective: To iden...

Background: Low vitamin D levels are prevalent in pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and are associated with increased risk for insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. Little is known about associations between vitamin D levels and markers of metabolic syndrome in incident T1DM in children. The aim of our study was to analyze associations between D vitamin levels and metabolic markers in newly onset T1DM pe...

Introduction: Maternal caloric restriction during gestation leads to offspring’s metabolic programming through epigenetic changes, which increase the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases in adulthood.Objectives: To study in a swine animal model: i) DNA methylation changes associated with caloric restriction during gestation in the adipose tissue of the offspring; and ii) the reversibility of these changes by metformin treatment.<p class="a...

Background: Early catch-up growth, between birth and age two years, in infants born small-for-gestational-age (SGA) is a risk factor for the development of cardiometabolic diseases in adulthood. The basis and mechanisms underpinning catch-up growth in SGA newborns are unknown.Objectives: We aimed to investigate the catch-up predictive ability of cord blood miRNAs in SGA infants.Methods: MicroRNA PCR Human Panels were used to study ...

Background: DLK1 or PREF1 is an imprinted gene highly expressed from the paternal allele in embryonic tissues and placenta. It has been recently implicated in adipose tissue expansion and diabetes development. The human rs1802710 polymorphism (SNP) in DLK1 gene has been associated with early-onset extreme obesity but its role determining growth is unknown.Objective and hypotheses: To study the preferential paternal transmission...

Background: The phenotypic effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may depend on their parental origin. PLAGL1 is an imprinted gene expressed from the paternal allele in placenta that is associated with fetal growth, transient neonatal diabetes mellitus and postnatal growth disorders. The mechanisms whereby PLAG1 regulates fetal growth are, however, unknown.Objective and hypotheses: To study if the preferential paternal transm...

Background: Human placenta exhibits a specific miRNA expression pattern. Some of these miRNAs are dysregulated in pregnancy disorders like preeclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), and are potential biomarkers for these pathologies. No studies have been performed in maternal obesity.Objective and hypotheses: (1) Define the placental miRNA profile in pregnant women with: a) pre-pregnancy (preOB) or gestational obesity (gestOB), b) gestation...