ESPE Abstracts

Background: The innate immune system is one of the first lines of host defense against invading pathogens. Pro-inflammatory α-defensins (mainly DEFA1–3) and anti-inflammatory bacterial/permeability-increasing protein (BPI) are antimicrobial peptides predominantly produced by neutrophils which have been recently related to obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular risk.Objective and hypotheses: The aim of our study was to test whether α-d...

Background: Muscle is key to glucose metabolism. Myogenesis is completed in early infancy, partly under the inhibitory control of myostatin, a myokine whose actions can be influenced by follistatin. Early lowering of myostatin actions is thus a potential strategy to reduce the risk for later diabetes.Objective and hypotheses: We performed a first screening of whether such lowering is among the natural mechanisms whereby some human infants augment their l...

Background: In rodents, fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), an endocrine member of the FGF family, is mainly produced in the liver and promotes glucose oxidation in several tissues; the circulating concentrations of FGF21 rise shortly after birth. In the human, the ontogeny of circulating FGF21 is essentially unknown.Objective and hypotheses: To assess whether there is also a neonatal surge of circulating FGF21 concen...

Background: Sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) is the major sex steroid carrier protein. Its production is negatively regulated by insulin and monosaccharides. The concentration of SHBG increases between 16 and 27 weeks gestation and is negatively associated with pre-gestational BMI and weight gain during pregnancy. The link of SHBG with cardiovascular risk is poorly understood.Objective and hypotheses: In obese pregnant women, we aimed to study the ass...

Introduction: Both the innate and adaptive immune responses are deregulated in individuals with obesity and are a key driver of its associated metabolic alterations. Although the anti-inflammatory growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) is a candidate protein against obesity, its mechanisms regulating the immune responses are not fully understood.Methods: We examined whether serum GDF-15 was related to serum levels of ...

Introduction: It is known that excessive gestational weight gain can cause an adverse intrauterine environment and increase the risk of cardio-metabolic diseases in the offspring. Epigenetics could be one of the mechanisms involved in this regulation.Objective: We aimed to study the DNA methylation profile of umbilical cord tissue that is associated with gestational weight gain (GWG), and its relationship with cardio-met...

Background and Aims: Gestational obesity can cause metabolic programming in the offspring. Epigenetic modifications of DNA have been suggested as potential mechanisms underlying this programming. FRAT-1 is a gene involved in the WNT signaling pathway, which is an important regulator of adipose tissue development. The objective of this work was to study the methylation status of FRAT-1 in placentas of women with either normal weight or gestati...

Background and Aims: Long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) are essential nutrients for the development of the fetus and are supplied by the mother through the placenta. Omega-6 arachidonic acid (AA) and both omega-3 eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docoshexaenoic acid (DHA) stand out for their functional roles. Recent studies show that the concentrations of these fatty acids in maternal blood and umbilical cord are associated with adiposity in the of...

Introduction: Children with Prader-Willi syndrome present with short stature and obesity. However, very little is known about the role of this imprinted control region in the general population. This study aims to analyze the methylation status of the PWS imprinting control region (ICR) in placenta and its association with postnatal growth and obesity parameters in healthy children.Methodology: The methylation percentages of the PWS-ICR ...

Background: Infants with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) exhibit stunted growth. However, little is known about the role of genes expressed from the imprinted PWS domain in healthy infants. This study aimed to analyze the relative gene expression of the SNURF-SNRPN/UBE3A cluster in the imprinted PWS domain in umbilical cord tissue, and its potential association with prenatal and postnatal growth in apparently healthy infants.Methods:...