ESPE Abstracts

Background: Activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway is frequent in adrenocortical tumors (ACTs). This pathway and DAX1, a negative regulator of SF1 expression, control adrenal stem/progenitor cells, which can be involved in ACTs formation.Objective: To analyse the association between the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and the expression of a stem cell marker (NANOG), STAT3, DAX1 and SF1 in ACTs.Methods: Patients:...

A 13 months old infant, presented with failure to thrive, untreated congenital hypothyroidism and pseudo-hypertrophy of limb muscles (i.e. Kocher-Debre-Semelaigne syndrome). The child had delayed motor and mental development. Thyroxin replacement therapy, as well as nutritional support, was initiated.Two to three weeks after treatment introduction, the motor and cognitive developments were accelerated with striking improvement as if global growth was sto...

Background and Aims: Turner Syndrome (TS), 45X0, is the most common chromosomal pathology affecting females, occurring in 1:2500 to 1:5000 female infants. The typical phenotype includes short stature, gonadal dysgenesis leading to sexual infantilism, low-set ears, low rear hairlin, mamary hypertelorism, neck webbing, gothic palate, irregular rotation of the elbows, shield chest, shortening of the 4th metacarpal, low hairline, shortening of lower extremities, renal disorders a...

Background: Homozygous aggrecan (ACAN) mutations have been described in a few skeletal dysplasias whilst more recently, heterozygous ACAN mutations have been reported in few families presenting with idiopathic short stature with advanced bone maturation and premature growth cessation.Case presentation: We describe two novel heterozygous ACAN stop mutations, detected using a skeletal dysplasia NGS panel and confirmed by Sanger sequencing...

Background: The sonic hedgehog pathway (SHH) regulates CNS development and mutations or abnormal expression of the SHH pathway genes have been identified in epithelial tumors. SHH pathway interacts with Wnt/β-catenin signalling. To date, CTNNB1/β-catenin mutations are the sole molecular abnormality found in adamantinomatous craniopharyngiomas (ACPs).Objective and Hypotheses: To analyze the expression pattern of SHH pathway genes in ACPs and its...

Background: To the best of our knowledge, no study has been conducted to assess the impact of 21 hydroxylase deficiency and hidrocortisone treatment on electrocardiographic measures in children with 21-hydroxylase-deficient congenital adrenal hyperplasia.Objective and hypotheses: The purpose of this study is to compare the12-lead electrocardiographic measures such as PWd, QT interval, QTd, Tp-e interval, Tp-e/QT and Tp-e/QTc ratio in patients of 21-hydro...

The growth hormone (GH)-insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) system is essential for optimal human growth and energy homeostasis. Deficiency of pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A2 (PAPP-A2), a protease involved in the liberation of free IGF-1, leads to problems in growth and bone density in humans and mice. Patients with PAPP-A2 deficiency also present lower body mass and mild glucose intolerance. The present study aimed to determine the influence of 1 month of high carbohydr...

Background: overexpression of the oncogene Yes-associated protein 1 (YAP1), a Hippo pathway target, associates with increased cell proliferation in some human cancers. There is not data on adrenocortical tumors (ACT). YAP1 is a potential target of Wnt/β-catenin pathway, which plays an important role in ACTs.Objective and hypotheses: to evaluate the role of YAP1 and its interaction with the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in ACT.Met...

Background: Recent work revealed two pathways in androgen biosynthesis, namely the classic and an alternative, the backdoor pathway. In this alternative pathway dihydrotestosterone is produced from 17-hydroxyprogesterone without the intermediacy of testosterone using mostly enzymes that are specific to the backdoor path. In the human ovary, regulation of androgen production plays a crucial role in normal physiology and in pathologies such as the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS...

Background: The MAMLD1 gene (Xp28) is thought to cause disorder of sex development (DSD) in 46, XY patients, mostly presenting with hypospadias, and, recently, also gonadal dysgenesis. However, there is some controversy about the role of MAMLD1 in sex development because i) some MAMLD1 variants are also detected in normal individuals, ii) others are not present in all affected DSD individuals of the same family; iii) several MAMLD1 mutations...