ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is routinely performed to identify brain lesions in boys with central precocious puberty (CPP). In contrast to girls, in whom more than 90% of cases are idiopathic, it has been reported that 4 up to 75% of boys with CPP have pathological brain lesions.Aim: to evaluate the prevalence of brain lesions in males with isolated CPP and to identify potential clinical and bioc...

Background: Nowadays, single nucleotide polymorphisms in genes KISS1, KISS1R, MKRN3, DLK1 have been described as the leading cause of precocious hypothalamic-pituitary axis activation in children. Genetic testing in patients with hereditary forms of precocious puberty (PP) can expand our knowledge in underlying molecular mechanisms of the disease. The diagnosis of genetic bases is necessary for genetic counselling.Aim: T...

Background: Endothelial dysfunction is a macrovascular complication of type 1 diabetes. Children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes may suffer of endothelial dysfunction, irrespective of chronological age and disease duration.Objective and hypotheses: After evaluating the prevalence of early endothelial dysfunction, as measured by mean of reactive hyperaemia in adolescents with type 1 diabetes, at baseline and after 1-year follow-up, we started a 6-mon...

Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1 (MEN1) is an inherited autosomal dominant disorder caused by mutations in the MEN1 tumor suppressor gene. Penetrance increases with age. It combines mainly hyperparathyroidism, adenomas of the pancreas and pituitary gland. The prevalence is about 2/100 000. Diagnosis in children is rare except in the case of family screening. We report the diagnosis of a familial MEN1 whose index case was an adolescent girl investigated because of hypoglycae...

Background: Congenital hypopituitarism (CH) is characterized by a deficiency of one or more pituitary hormones. Mutations in the genes coding for transcription factors, such HESX1, involved in the development of the pituitary, determine a highly variable phenotype which may include severe midline defects, septo-optic dysplasia and other congenital abnormalities. A small number of HESX1 variants have been identified in humans. The phenotype sh...

Background: Precocious puberty (PP) in girls is most frequently an idiopathic gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)-dependent PP, being thelarche the typical first sign. It is well established that increased dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS) levels are associated with premature adrenarche and may characterize PP too. However, its relationship with signs of hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis activation and estrogen exposure is still to be elucidate...

Background: Pre-eclampsia is associated with important complications for both mother and baby in the short term, but there are limited data about its long-term effects on offspring metabolism. Thus, we aimed to assess whether maternal pre-eclampsia was associated with adverse effects on metabolism and body composition in the offspring in childhood.Methods: We studied healthy pre-pubertal children (aged 4–10 years) b...

Objectives: To investigate changes in levels of autoantibodies(Abs) against 21-hydroxylase(21OH) in APECED patients and in patients with isolated primary autoimmune adrenal insufficiency (AI) over time after manifestation of AI.Methods: 24 patients with APECED with AI and 5 patients with isolated autoimmune AI were recruited. APECED was confirmed by finding at least two major components of the disease and/or two mutation...

Background: Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a complex, multisystem disorder that arises from lack of expression of paternally imprinted genes on chromosome 15q11-q13. Its major clinical features include neonatal hypotonia, short stature, developmental delay, hyperphagia, childhood onset obesity, hypothalamic endocrinopathy and characteristic appearance. It is known that due to severe obesity PWS patients are prone to develop type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), whi...

McCune-Albright syndrome (MAS) is a rare disorder caused by somatic mutations in GNAS gene leading to fibrous dysplasia (FD), cafe-au-lait spots and hyperfunctioning endocrinopathies. The common feature of MAS in girls is peripheral precocious puberty (PP) with the recurrent ovary cysts. Few cases of ovary tumors have been described to date.8,5 year-old girl with MAS is closely observed in our centre since the age 4,5, when the diagnosis was est...