ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Monogenic obesity refers to a group of rare, early-onset forms of obesity and accounts for about 7% of patients with severe pediatric obesity. Recent reports demonstrate the emerging role of Src-homology-2 (SH2) B adaptor protein 1 (Sh2b1), an important component in the leptin-melanocortin pathway, as a key regulator of leptin and insulin signaling, with possible roles in the pathogenesis of obesity and diabetes. SH2B1 deletions are found to be a...

Introduction: The soluble leptin receptor (sLR) is the main binding protein of leptin in the serum. It reflects the amount of membrane-bound leptin receptors (LEPR) as the sLR is produced by proteolytic cleavage of the extracellular domain of membrane-bound LEPR. Low sLR but high leptin levels were measured in patients with severe obesity. In patients with monogenic obesity caused by biallelic LEPR variants, sLR levels were found to be either undetect...

Background: Kinase suppressor of Ras 2 (KSR2) gene codes for a scaffold protein modulating intracellular pathways that involve MEK/BRAF cascade and AMPK signaling. KSR2 plays an important role in energy balance regulation, and KSR2 mutations were reported to be associated with obesity and insulin resistance in mice and humans. In transfected cells, several KSR2 mutations lead to impaired fatty acid oxidation, which improved under met...

Study of the histopathology of human type 1 and 2 diabetes through the national pancreatic organ donor (nPOD) consortium has yielded interesting new insights that should also aid us in developing improved therapeutic approaches.1. When insulitis is observed, it usually shows a predominance of CD8 T cells, some of which are autoantigen specific (see also Coppieters et al. JEM 2012). It will be therapeutically challenging to remove/prevent CD8 mem...

Background: Common metabolic diseases, including diabetes and obesity, are the result of interactions between genes and environment. It is well-recognized that the maternal intrauterine environment is an important modifier of this risk. Thus, fetuses carried by women who are obese, diabetic or suffer from suboptimal nutrition are at increased risk of insulin resistance, obesity, type 2 diabetes (T2D), and cardiovascular disease as adults. Emerging data indicate that paternal e...

Background: Proteoglycans are abundant and structurally complex bio macromolecules. They reside on the cell surface and are a major component of the extracellular matrix including bone. Defective formation of proteoglycans may case pleiotropic connective tissue syndromes including EDS-like and Larsen syndrome–like phenotypes.Objective and hypotheses: We report on a girl with disproportionate short stature and joint laxity with pes planus and radial ...

Introduction: Monogenic defects in the leptin-melanocortin pathway result in hyperphagia and severe, early-onset obesity. Knowledge of the natural history of anthropometric parameters in patients with monogenic obesity is essential for diagnosis. However, reliable data on early childhood weight and height development in affected patients are lacking. This study aimed to evaluate the history of height, weight, and BMI development in early childhood in a Europea...

Background: To delineate testicular responses to gonadotropin replacement in young males with genetically proven CHH.Patients and Methods: In n=72 young males with CHH and at least one variant detected within twenty-four investigated known CHH genes, gonadotropin replacement with hCG and rFSH s.c. was performed over a mean of 2±1 years. Bi-testicular volumes and serum Inhibin B served as baseline parameters, ...

Males with Klinefelter syndrome (KS) have impaired gonadal function due to sex chromosome aneuploidy (47,XXY), ultimately resulting in testicular atrophy and hypergonadotropic azoospermia, thus infertility. At what time serum testosterone (T) concentrations decline in affected individuals, thereby indicating lifelong replacement, is not predictable. An early testosterone treatment provides potential benefits with respect to body composition, neuro-muscular function and final h...

Growth failure is common in radiotherapy-treated long-term survivors of pediatric brain tumors. The aim of this study was to assess the changes in growth patterns before and after brain tumor diagnosis, the final height, and the risk factors for compromised growth. The incidence and treatment practices of growth hormone deficiency were analyzed.Methods: A cohort of 73 long-term survivors of childhood brain tumor (median age 27.2 years) w...