ESPE Abstracts

Puberty is a crucial biological process normally occurring at a specific time during the lifespan, during which sexual and somatic maturation are completed, and reproductive capacity is reached. Pubertal timing is not only determined by genetics, but also by endogenous and environmental cues, including nutritional and metabolic signals. During the last decade, we have learned much regarding the essential roles of kisspeptins and the neuropeptide pathways that converge on these...

Introduction: Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare genetic disorder resulting from the lack of expression of the PWS region (locus q11-q13) on the paternally derived chromosome 15. Either a paternal deletion of the PWS region (50%), a maternal uniparental disomy (mUPD; 43%), an imprinting defect (4.1%) or translocation (<1%) can lead to PWS. Deletions are almost always de novo and manifest either as a large type I or a smaller type II deletion. In more rar...

Background/aims: Temple syndrome (TS14) is a rare imprinting disorder caused by maternal uniparental disomy of chromosome 14 (UPD(14)mat), paternal deletion of 14q32 or by an isolated methylation defect. TS14 is considered a Prader-Willi-like (PWL) disorder. Some patients with TS14 are treated with growth hormone (GH). However, evidence for the effectiveness of GH-treatment in patients with TS14 is very limited.Methods: ...

Context: Children with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) generally have mild to moderate cognitive impairment with an IQ between 60 and 70. Growth hormone (GH) treatment is a registered treatment for children with PWS and has been associated with cognitive benefits, attributed to the effects of GH and insulin-like growth factor on brain growth and development. Short-term data suggest positive effects of GH treatment on cognitive functioning in children with PWS. The...

X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH) is the most common genetic disorder of phosphate homeostasis. It is caused by inactivating mutations in the PHEX gene, which encodes a phosphate regulating endopeptidase predominantly expressed in osteoblasts, osteocytes, and odontoblasts.In children there is a broad phenotypic spectrum of XLH ranging from isolated hypophosphatemia without clinical signs up to severe symptoms, such as rickets, extreme lower limb d...

Background: Receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) is a multiligand receptor up-regulated at sites of inflammation, especially in tissues with accelerated advanced glycation end-products formation. It is additionally stimulated by RAGE ligands S100A12 and HMGB1 released from recruited immune cells thus perpetuating the inflammatory process with a potential role in the development of type 1 diabetes as well as in development in diabetes complicatio...

Background: Early gain in fat mass (FM) might be influenced by type of feeding. Excessive gain in FM during the first three months of life is associated with an increased risk for adiposity and cardiovascular diseases. This three-month period is also known as the critical window for adiposity programming.Aims: To investigate differences in body composition between exclusively breastfed (BF) and formula fed (FF) infants from birth to 24 months.<p clas...

Context: Infants and toddlers with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) have a mental and motor developmental delay. Short-term data suggest a positive effect of growth hormone (GH) on mental and motor development in infants and children with PWS. There are, however, no longer-term results about the effects of GH treatment on mental and motor development.Objective: To investigate the longer-term effects of GH on psychomotor development in infants and toddlers wit...

Background: Small birth size followed by accelerated weight gain in early life is associated with an increased risk for age-associated diseases, such as cardiovascular disease (CVD) in later life. The underlying causes for this are largely unknown. Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a marker of biological age and short LTL is associated with increased CVD-risk. Subjects born small for gestational age (SGA) who remain short are treated with growth hormone (GH) to improve adult ...

Background: In children born SGA with persistent short stature, growth hormone (GH) treatment is an approved therapy for increasing adult height (AH). Some SGA children have an advanced bone age (BA) during GH. Heterozygous mutations in the ACAN-gene have been described in children with idiopathic short stature and advanced BA.Objective and hypotheses: To assess growth during GH treatment with additional GnRHa treatment, in children with ACAN-gene mutati...