ESPE Abstracts

Objective: The programmed cell death 1 protein (PD1) is a T lymphocyte membrane receptor, which when bound to its ligand PD – L1 inactivates the cytotoxic T lymphocyte, thereby down regulating the immune response. Cancer may upregulate PD – L1 on the cell surface, further downregulating the immune response. Nivolumab, a so called check point inhibitor, is a PD1 antibody, and when bound to PD1 keep the cytotoxic T lymphocyte active. Cytotoxic T lymphocyte activation b...

Background: Methylmalonic acidemia (MMA) is an inborn error of metabolism affecting the catabolism of essential amino acids: valine, isoleucine, methionine, and threonine. A great problem in these children is that of a growth abnormality with progressive slowing of the statural growth rate, in contrast with a normal or even accelerated weight gain. These abnormalities are accompanied by bone demineralization and muscle hypotonia.Objective and hypotheses:...

Background: Low birth weight (LBW) followed by a rapid postnatal catch-up in weight predisposes individuals to a central distribution of body fat, which is reverted by metformin. Growth-and-differentiation-factor-15 (GDF15) plays an important role in the regulation of energy homeostasis, reducing food intake and lowering body weight. We aimed to assess whether GDF15 concentrations are raised by long-term metformin treatment in LBW/catch-up girls with precociou...

Background: Epigenetic alterations due to maternal obesity may contribute to an increased metabolic risk in the offspring. IRS1 has a critical role in insulin signalling and its methylation has been previously associated with body fat distribution and glucose metabolism in human adipose tissue. The relationship between IRS1 methylation in birth tissues and obesity parameters in the offspring is unknown.Objective: To iden...

Background: Low vitamin D levels are prevalent in pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and are associated with increased risk for insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. Little is known about associations between vitamin D levels and markers of metabolic syndrome in incident T1DM in children. The aim of our study was to analyze associations between D vitamin levels and metabolic markers in newly onset T1DM pe...

Background: Growth-and-differentiation factor-15 (GDF15) is a regulator of energy homeostasis, and is used as biomarker of several pathological states.Objectives: To assess longitudinally GDF15 concentrations in a cohort of infants born either appropriate- (AGA, n=70) or small-for-gestational-age (SGA, n=33), the latter known to be at increased risk for central adiposity and metabolic alteration...

Introduction: Maternal caloric restriction during gestation leads to offspring’s metabolic programming through epigenetic changes, which increase the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases in adulthood.Objectives: To study in a swine animal model: i) DNA methylation changes associated with caloric restriction during gestation in the adipose tissue of the offspring; and ii) the reversibility of these changes by metformin treatment.<p class="a...

Background: Early catch-up growth, between birth and age two years, in infants born small-for-gestational-age (SGA) is a risk factor for the development of cardiometabolic diseases in adulthood. The basis and mechanisms underpinning catch-up growth in SGA newborns are unknown.Objectives: We aimed to investigate the catch-up predictive ability of cord blood miRNAs in SGA infants.Methods: MicroRNA PCR Human Panels were used to study ...

Background: The placenta plays a key role in regulating fatty acid (FA) transport from maternal to fetal circulation. An unfavourable FA profile in the placenta, reflecting an inadequate nutritional status during pregnancy, may cause changes in placental DNA methylation and negatively affect fetal growth and metabolic health of the offspring.Objectives: We aimed to study the association of an unfavourable placental FA profile with placental DNA methylati...

Background: DLK1 or PREF1 is an imprinted gene highly expressed from the paternal allele in embryonic tissues and placenta. It has been recently implicated in adipose tissue expansion and diabetes development. The human rs1802710 polymorphism (SNP) in DLK1 gene has been associated with early-onset extreme obesity but its role determining growth is unknown.Objective and hypotheses: To study the preferential paternal transmission...