ESPE Abstracts

Background: Prader–willi syndrome (PWS) is characterized by decreased fetal activity, obesity, muscular hypotonia, MR, short stature, hypogonadism and small hands and feet. Little information is available concerning PWS and kidney involvement.Objective and hypotheses: We report two patients with PWS and congenital abnormalities of kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT).Method: First case: male, born at 35 weeks with caesarian sectio...

Background: Proopiomelanocortin (POMC) deficiency is characterized by early-onset obesity, adrenal failure, red hair and pale skin. The first genetic mutation in the POMC gene was demonstrated in 1998. This disorder is rare, but has increased our insight into the important role of the leptin-melanocortin pathway in energy balance. POMC deficiency causes obesity due to the inadequate production of alpha and beta MSH from POMC, which normally activate the melanocortin 3 receptor...

Background: Skeletal dysplasias are characterised by bone-cartilage involvement and impairment of growth and body proportions. Reports of the benefits of GH treatment are difficult to evaluate for the small number of subjects, short period of treatment, few final height (FH) data in groups with and without GH deficiency (GHD).Objective and hypotheses: The aim of our study was to assess FH and body proportions in pts with skeletal dysplasia and GHD.<p...

Background: The social consequences of COVID-19 pandemic are universally known. In particular, the pediatric population is dealing with a radical lifestyle change. For some risk categories, such as overweight and obese children, the impact of home confinement has been greater than for others. Not only have the increased sedentary life, the wrong diet and social distancing stopped the chance of losing weight, but also worsened the general life conditions.<p...

Introduction: The influence of sex chromosomes and sex hormones on early human brain development is still poorly understood. Expression of Y chromosome genes may influence aspects of brain maturation in the 46,XY fetus, but the contribution of different Y genes is unknown. Furthermore, a marked increase in testicular testosterone biosynthesis/release from the testis occurs at around 8 weeks post conception (wpc) in the 46,XY fetus, but it is unclear whether te...

Short stature is a common clinical presentation in children. New genetics approache such as “Next Generation Sequencing” have recently reported many monogenic defects in genes related to the growth plate cartilage and in GH-IGF-1 axis. The purpose of this study was to analyze a cohort of 64 patients (31 females and 33 males) affected by ISS. The patiens have been subjected to genetic investigations by performing an NGS panel of genes involved in growth, the evaluat...

Introduction: Short stature is one of the main reasons leading a patient to the attention of the Pediatric Endocrinologist. It is important to know the possible causes of short stature, even the rarest genetic mutations associated with short stature. Although the diagnosis of short stature is primarily the result of physical examination with anthropometric measurements, biochemical and radiological data, genetical tests currently play an important role.<p ...

V.C. was referred to our Centre for short stature. The mid-parental target height was 153 cm (-1,6 SDS). Her mother had one spontaneous abortion and displayed mild short stature (151,5 cm). Her father had Arnold Chiari syndrome type 1 and was 165,9 cm tall. V.C. was delivered at term after in-vitro-fertilization pregnancy with intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) from gestational week 21. Birth weight was 2160 g (SGA, SDS -3,17); length was 45 cm (SDS -2,92); head circumfere...

CHOPS syndrome is a rare monogenic disorder caused by heterozygous gain-of-function variants in AFF4. The 13 patients reported to date share a highly recognizable phenotype: Coarse face, Cognitive impairment, Heart defects, Obesity, Pulmonary involvement, Short stature and Skeletal dysplasia. AFF4 encodes a scaffold protein involved in transcriptional elongation and critical for gene expression regulation during embryogenesis. Notably, it appears to regulate adipogenic differe...

Background: The treatment of high-risk neuroblastoma still represents a clinical challenge in pediatric oncology. About 50% of children survive after a multimodal treatment based on conventional and high dose chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy, differentiating treatment and immunotherapy.Aim: To evaluate endocrine long-term sequels in a pediatric cohort with high-risk neuroblastoma.Patient...