ESPE Abstracts

Background: The phenotype of SHOX aploinsufficiency is highly variable also in affected members of the same family with broad differences in severity of short stature, disproportion, presence of Madelung deformity.Case presentation: We present a family with a new mutation of SHOX gene. A 2.3 years old girl, born at term from unrelated parents, came to our observation for short stature. Her height was −2.02 SDS, arm span was normal, sitting heigh/he...

Rationale: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a major complication of preterm birth, which pathophysiology involves systematic inflammation. Preterm infants commonly suffer from relative adrenal insufficiency (RAI) in their first week of life, resulting in an insufficient production of cortisol inappropriate for the degree of inflammation. One of the major causes of RAI is immaturity of adrenal cortex enzymes, leading to an accumulation of cortisol precursors...

Background: Good glycemic control prevents long-term complications of microvascular and macrovascular diseases in type 1 diabetes (T1DM).We aimed to investigate whether our patients had A1c values <7.5% as recommended by ISPAD and how therapy modality, duration of diabetes and pubertal status affected the metabolic control of our patients. We also set out to compare our quality of care with our results of 2008 and with other publ...

Introduction: Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) is an overgrowth syndrome caused by multiple epigenetic/genetic changes affecting imprinted genes in 11p15.5 region. Phenotypic expression is variable. Hyperinsulinaemic hypoglycaemia is common (30-60%). Persistent, severe, refractory cases are usually associated with 11p15 paternal uniparental disomy, particularly the rare context of a coexisting paternal inactivating KATP channel variant. Those c...

Background: Alström syndrome (AS) is a rare genetic ciliopathy characterized by severe early-onset obesity, hyperphagia, retinal dystrophy, hearing loss, and cardiomyopathy. Rodent studies suggest that cilia play an important role in the leptin-MC4R pathway, which regulates energy balance and body weight. Setmelanotide, a peptide agonist of the MC4R, has led to weight loss in individuals affected by other rare genetic obesity disorders resulting from dysfunction in this p...

Background: There is growing concern about the impact of eating disorders on the bone heath during adolescence where peak bone mass acquisition is of paramount importance.Method: A total of 85 patients (77F/8M, 75% anorexia nervosa(AN) and 25% atypical eating disorder), median age 15.2 years (range, 10.9–19.8) and median BMI SDS −1.3 (−4.7 to 0.8) attended the bone densitometry service between Jan 2009 and Dec 2013 for total body (TB) an...

Background: The hypothalamic leptin–melanocortin signalling pathway is a critical regulator of human appetite and weight regulation. Monogenetic defects in the POMC gene, the MSH ligand generating PC1 gene and the MSH receptor gene MC4R lead to severe early onset and leptin-resistant obesity. In PWS, where the function of genes such as MAGEL2 are impaired, the Magel2-/- mouse model revealed decreased POMC neuronal functioning as one c...

Background: In humans, loss-of-function mutations in Nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase (NNT) cause familial glucocorticoid deficiency, a potentially fatal, adrenal-specific disorder characterized by increased ACTH and reduced cortisol levels. NNT is a highly conserved inner mitochondrial membrane protein, which supplies high concentrations of NADPH for detoxification of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by glutathione and thioredoxin pathways.<p class="abstext"...

Objective: To evaluate the response to recombinant human GH (rhGH) treatment in NS children with short stature and previously identified mutations in the RAS/MAPK pathway genes.Methods: 23 patients with NS (17 males; 19 PTPN11, 3 RAF1 e 1 SHOC2) were daily treated with rhGH (mean rhGH dose of 47 μg/kg per day). The main outcome measures were 1st year growth velocity, change in height SDS (Noonan syndrome specifi...

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine disorders among women of reproductive age, and is characterised by chronic inflammation and in most cases by insulin resistance besides ovulatory dysfunction and hyperandrogenism. HMGB1 is a small protein with cytokine activity that can activate nuclear factor kappa light chain enhancer of activated B cells (Nf-kB), and signals through the Receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGEs) and through the T...