ESPE Abstracts

Background: Growth hormone (GH) has been used for over 50 years to benefit both children with GH deficiency (GHD) and other forms of short stature as well as to correct the metabolic abnormalities found in adults with GHD (AGHD). Moreover, low IGF levels have been associated with the risk of diabetes, heart disease and osteoporosis. On the other hand, epidemiological studies suggest that high IGF-1 levels may be associated with cancer risk in the general population. Furthermor...

The last frontier to conquer in female infertility is absolute uterine factor infertility (AUFI), affecting more than 10 000 women in the UK. Uterine transplantation (UTx) is now the first available treatment for this large group of women. Adoption and gestational surrogacy are other means to obtain motherhood, but the acceptances of these arrangements in the society vary greatly between societies. Our research group initiated a step-by-step developmental animal-based research...

To attain sexual competence, all mammalian species go through puberty, a maturational period during which body growth and development of secondary sexual characteristics occurs. Puberty begins with the reawakening of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) pulse generator. Reduction in inhibitory transsynaptic inputs combined with increased transsynaptic and glial excitatory inputs to the GnRH neuronal network are responsible for pubertal activation of GnRH neuro-secretion. ...

Pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) and the melanocortin-4-receptor (MC4R) are playing a key role within the leptin-melanocortin-pathway and thereby for satiety regulation. Mutations within these genes are leading to hyperphagia and early-onset obesity. However, observations of cardiac abnormalities including left ventricular dilatation and reduced contractibility in the MC4R knockout mouse model and reports about a reduced blood pressure in human MC4R variant carriers, led us to inve...

Background: Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is the most common endocrine disorder in neonates and is predominantly caused by developmental abnormalities known as thyroid dysgenesis (TD). Several transcription factors have been described in its aetiology, but defects in the known genes only account for a small proportion of cases.Methods: To identify novel genes involved in TD, we performed exome sequencing in 7 unrelated ...

Background: Testicular atrophy is a rare complication following inguinal hernia repair particularly in children<2 years and those with an undescended testis at highest risk> with an undescended testis. Inhibin B is secreted from the testis as a product of Sertoli cells, and has been suggested as a good marker for spermatogenesis. Its value is expected to be very low in children with bilateral testicular atrophyCase Report...

Male reproductive disorders are common and there is evidence for increasing incidence over recent decades. These disorders may present at birth (hypospadias and cryptorchidism) or in adulthood (infertility, testicular cancer) and can arise as a result of underlying genetic abnormalities or following environmental (e.g. phthalates) and pharmaceutical (e.g. analgesics, chemotherapy) exposures that impact fetal, neonatal of prepubertal testicular development. Understanding the re...

Catch-up growth (CUG) is characterized by a period of supranormal height velocity following a transient period of growth inhibition. The two classical hypotheses on the mechanism are the neuro-endocrine hypothesis (a central mechanism that would recognize the degree of mismatch between actual size and target size) and the growth plate hypothesis (local regulation of growth according to a preset cellular program of senescence, characterized by decreasing growth proliferation ra...

Background: Regulatory T cells (Treg) of phenotype CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ involves active suppression of excessive immune response. The population of Treg cells from patients with type 1 diabetes (DM1) have numeric and functional abnormalities. Although there are many reports of investigations on human and animal populations, the role of regulatory T cells in the development of type 1 diabetes is still unclear.Objective and hypotheses: The aim of the study is t...

Background: Translational research has provided evidence of autonomic nervous system (ANS) interactions with cytokines and gut hormones. In the gastrointestinal track, the crosstalk of the stimulated vagus nerve with immune cells enhances the cholinergic tone. In obesity, on the other hand, hyperinsulinemia and hyperleptinemia induce ANS activation.Aim: To synthesize literature results exploring links among the autonomic nervous system, gut hormones, imm...