ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: The term lipodystrophy describes a rare disease subdivided into a heterogenous group of even rarer subforms. The rarity of this disease makes research in this area extremely difficult and international co-operation is mandatory to accumulate data sets of sufficient size. The European Consortium of Lipodystrophy (ECLip) consisting of an association of European experts in the field of lipodystrophy has therefore decided to set up a registry for patients with lipody...

Background: Children with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) show endocrine complications and metabolic alterations. The physiopathology of these conditions is not completely understood: iron overload due to chronic transfusions, ischemic damage, and inflammatory state related to vaso-occlusive crises may be involved. Aims of this study were to evaluate the growth pattern and the endocrine and metabolic alterations in a cohort of children with SCD and to detect the relationship between...

Background: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is characterized by clinical and/or biochemical hyperandrogenism, oligo-anovulation and/or ultrasound finding of polycystic ovaries. Insulin-resistance represents the etiopathogenetic key of PCOS: a deficit of Inositol’s tissue availability seems to be responsible for this clinical picture. Hyperglycemia resulting insulin-resistance, determines a state of chronic inflammation, which increases oxidative stress.<p class="abst...

Introduction: The leptin-melanocortin pathway is a well-studied pivotal player of body weight regulation and energy homeostasis. Pathogenic mutations of the genes involved in this pathway may result in early-onset severe obesity (ESO).Case Report: We hereby report the case of a 14-year-old girl who was referred to our pediatric outpatient clinic for the evaluation of ESO. Her parents were non-obese first cousins born in Morocco. At the t...

Silver-Russell syndrome (SRS) is an epigenetic disorder characterized by severe intrauterine and postnatal growth retardation and typical dysmorphic features. The most common genetic abnormalities are 11p15 ICR1 loss of methylation, (11p15 LOM) and maternal uniparental disomy of chromosome 7 (mUPD7). There is little information on cognitive development in SRS patients and no neuroradiological studies are available so far. Global developmental delay and requirement for speech t...

Background: Central precocious puberty (CPP) is defined as the secondary sexual characteristics onset before 8 years of age in females and before 9 in males, due to premature activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. The underlying cause remains idiopathic in the great majority; based on the 2009 Consensus, 2% to 7% of girls who have onset of CPP between the ages of 6 and 8 years have unsuspected pathology and only 1% have a tumor such...

HMGB1 is a small-protein which reflects both inflammation and insulin-sensitivity. Inflammation and insulin-resistance are features of PCOS. IL-6 is important for ovarian function and can contribute to insulin-resistance. IGFBP-2 behaves like an acute-phase protein and is increased in chronic inflammation. It is also involved in the glucose-metabolism regulation and IGFBP-2 overexpression plays a protective role against insulin-resistance. Insulin functions as a co-gonadotropi...

Background: Leprechaunism, also known as Donohue syndrome, is due to a severe congenital insulin-resistance, with prenatal and neonatal growth retardation, typical dysmorphic features, glycaemic dysregulation with hyperinsulinism and hyperandrogenism.Objective and hypotheses: These patients have a poor prognosis with death in the first year of life.Method: We report the case of a newborn (35.4 weeks) with severe fetal growth restri...

Background: Disorders of sex development (DSD) are often due to disruption of the genetic programs that regulate gonad development. Some genes have been identified in these developmental pathways such as DAX-1, SOX-9, GATA-4 and others. The GATA-4 gene, located on chromosome 8p23.1, encodes GATA-binding protein 4 (GATA-4), a transcription factor that is essential for cardiac and gonadal development and sexual differentiation. Congenital heart disease (CHD) and...

The epidemic spread of obesity in children has triggered the commitment of scientific research, which has allowed us to understand its genetic basis; the different forms of genetic obesity share common clinical aspects, making it difficult to achieve a molecular diagnosis based only on our clinical suspicion. We report a female patient presented with neonatal hypotonia, hyperphagia and early onset excessive weight gain, strabismus and high hypermetropia. Regarding her neurodev...