ESPE Abstracts

Background: Idiopathic central precocious puberty (CPP) is mostly described as an isolated entity. A few studies have shown its association with clinical syndromes and rare cases of chromosomal abnormalities.Objective: To clinically characterize patients with CPP, pointing out prevalent associated conditions and phenotypes.Patients and Methods: One hundred and forty-five patients with idiopathic CPP were retrospectively evaluated. ...

Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is an emerging disease in the pediatric population. The association between T2D and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been described; this increases the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Recent evidence suggests that sizes and composition of HDL may be more important that HDL-C levels in predicting CHD. There is not data regarding the HDL subclasses distribution and composition in T2D youths with hepatic steatosis (HE).<p c...

Background: Patients born small for gestational age (SGA) with additional syndromic features to short stature are likely to present with genetic causes.Aim: To perform a clinical and genetic-molecular investigation of a group of syndromic SGA patients without catch-up growth.Methods: We selected 118 patients born SGA [birth weight and/or length standard deviation score (SDS) ≤−2 for gestational age] without catch-up gro...

Background: Primary ovarian failure (POF) is a major cause of female infertility. POF is characterized by amenorrhea, hypo-estrogenism, and elevated gonadotrophin levels. In POF disorder, several genetic alterations have been described, however in most of the patients the etiology of this disorder remains unknown.Objective and hypotheses: To identify new genes implicated in the development of POF using whole-exome sequencing (WES)....

Background: Familial Hypocalciuric Hypercalcemia (FHH) type 1 is a benign condition of hypercalcemia with autosomal dominant inheritance caused by pathogenic variants in the calcium-sensing receptor gene (CASR). CaSR plays a crucial role in the regulation of calcium balance. Inactivating mutations in CASR result in altered calcium-sensing and inappropriate parathyroid hormone (PTH) release concerning the calcium concentration. Dysplasia Epiph...

Introduction: Age at pubertal onset is a markedly inherited trait. The most common cause of pubertal delay, self-limited pubertal delay, is defined by the absence of secondary sexual characteristics after 13 years in girls and 14 years in boys, with progression before age 18. This study aimed to detect novel candidate genes for self-limited pubertal delay.Methods: Eighty-one patients with confirmed self-limited delayed p...

Background: The need to understand the relationship between bone, muscle, and fat within the bone-muscle unit has recently gained great prominence. Although high resolution (HR) MRI is a non-invasive imaging modality that can provide this information, there is limited expertise in children and young people.Objectives: To establish MRI-based normative data for bone, bone marrow adiposity and muscle adiposity in children a...

Abnormal DNA methylation contributes to tumor progression and is emerging as a prognostic marker in several types of cancers. To investigate whether DNA methylation is associated with pediatric adrenocortical tumor (pACT) presentation and patient prognosis, we analyzed the methylation profile of 57 tumors (MethylationEPIC BeadChip Array-Illumina) and patients’ clinicopathological features and outcome. The study comprehended 40 girls and 17 boys, with median age at diagnos...

Background: It is well known that growth hormone (GH) brings about several effects, involving bone, body composition, lipids and glucose homeostasis. However, the complex interplay between these parameters is rather poorly studied in children with childhood-onset-GH deficiency (CO-GHD).Objective and hypotheses: To investigate lipids, adipokines (leptin- adiponectin- resistin) and glucose homeostasis and their relationship with bone and body composition i...

Objective: Most children with short stature remain without an etiologic diagnosis after extensive clinical and laboratory evaluation and are classified as idiopathic short stature (ISS). This study aimed to determine the diagnostic yield of a multigene gene analysis in children classified as ISS.Design and Methods: We selected 102 children with ISS and performed the genetic analysis as part of the initial investigation. ...