ESPE Abstracts

Background: Mutations in BRAF are a rare cause of cardiofaciocutaneous syndrome (CFC). Recently, BRAF mutations have been reported in papillary craniopharyngiomas, but have not been described in patients with other hypothalamo-pituitary abnormalities. We describe three patients with CFC and septo-optic dysplasia (SOD) associated with heterozygous BRAF mutations.Cases: Patients presented in childhood with clinical features of ge...

Three patients from two unrelated families in Malta; one consanguineous (siblings: Patient 1, male and Patient 2, female) and one non-consanguineous (Patient 3, male), manifested hypogonadotropic hypogonadism with delayed puberty, intellectual disability, scoliosis, and ataxia with cerebellar hypoplasia on MRI. GnRH tests revealed low peak LH and FSH concentrations in the patients: Patient 1; LH 2.3 IU/L, FSH 4.4 IU/L (14.3y), Patient 2; LH 3.6 IU/L, FSH 6.4 IU/L (12.5y), Pati...

Background: Donohue syndrome (DS) is the most severe form of insulin-resistance due to autosomal recessive mutations in the insulin receptor gene. Previous reports demonstrate a role for recombinant human IGF1 (rhIGF1), however optimal treatment strategy remains unclear.Case series: Four males with DS have been treated with bolus rhIGF1 (see table below). They had no IGF1 response on an IGF1 generation test. No long-term side effects of rhIGF1 were repor...

Background: Graves’ disease (GD) is almost always the cause of hyperthyroidism in children. Studies carried out for recent years confirm an important role of T regulatory cells (Tregs) in the development of autoimmune diseases. However, the interactions between T-cell response and Treg proliferation in GD is still poorly understood.Objective and hypotheses: The aim of this research was the assessment of the in vitro proliferation of Treg ce...

Background: Trisomy 21 is associated with an increased susceptibility to respiratory infections.Objective and hypotheses: For a more detailed characterization of the adaptive immune response, we analyzed the cellular and humoral immunity to specific pathogens in blood samples of 40 children with Down’s syndrome in comparison to 51 age-matched controls.Method: We quantitatively analyzed lymphocyte subpopulations using flow cyto...

Type 1 diabetes mellitus is autoimmune T cells mediated destruction of β-cells. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are considered a promising treatment for T1DM due to the strong immunosuppressive and regenerative capacity. However, the comprehensive mechanism is still unclear. Our previous study indicated that the transforming growth factor beta-induced gene (TGFBI) is highly expressed in human umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs), which is also implicated...

Introduction: Graves'disease (GD) is a polygenic and multifactorial disease.The innate immune system is a complex network of structured cells and proteins, including the Toll-like receptors (TLRs), which are also expressed on the cells of the adaptive immune system.The aim was to assess the relationship between the expression of TLR-2 on the surface of T CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes in pat...

Introduction: The incidence of autoimmune thyroid diseases (ATD) is constantly rising. Graves’ disease (GD) remains the most common cause of thyrotoxicosis in pediatric population, but the exact pathogenesis of GD is still not fully understood. The immunological basis of ATD assumes an imbalance between effector and regulatory T lymphocytes. B regulatory cells (Breg) are able to suppress the pro-inflammatory properties of effector T cells. Methimazole (M...

Although type 1 diabetes (T1D) is most common autoimmune chronic metabolic disease in childhood, data about the role of T-Lymphocytes (T-Ly) and B-Lymphocytes (B-Ly) in children after the diabetes onset are still controversial. The aim of the study was to evaluate the serum levels of T– and B-Ly in children with T1D as a predisposing factor for genital candidiasis (GC).Material: We studied 71 children with T1D at the age of 6 to 18 years, divided in...

Background: Ghrelin and obestatin are two gastrointestinal peptides obtained by post-translational processing of a common precursor, preproghrelin. mRNA expression for preproghrelin was found in autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITDs) in previous studies. There are papers, where a role of preproghrelin polymorphism on various immunological diseases was determined, but nothing is known about its influence on the AITDs.Objective and hypotheses: The aim of our ...