ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Central precocious puberty (CPP) is due to premature activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. Mutations in the imprinted gene MKRN3 are the most common monogenic form of CPP. Recently, attention was directed to DLK1, another imprinted gene. Defects in this gene resulted to be a rare cause of CPP in girls and adult women with precocious menarche, obesity and metabolic derangement. We aimed to investigate a cohort of female and male p...

Context: Severe forms of growth hormone insensitivity (GHI) are characterised by extreme short stature, dysmorphism and metabolic anomalies. They are classically caused by homozygous or compound heterozygous mutations of the growth hormone receptor gene (GHR). Genetic analysis traditionally focuses on the exonic regions of genes that encode proteins rather than the intervening non-coding sequences. These seldom explored non-coding regions may harbour ...

Background: IGF1 measurements are used to diagnose and monitoring GH related disorders. GH dose is titrated against IGF1 concentrations which should be kept within the age-and sex-related normal range. However, IGF1 results vary widely depending on the immunoassay used. International guidelines advise to report IGF1 results as S.D. scores from an assay-specific age-related reference population.Objective and hypotheses: Our objective was to...

Background: Optimising adherence to treatment in paediatric patients is important, since non-adherence may lead to incorrect interpretation of growth results and in the treatment course. It has been found that injection frequency is correlated with growth response and final height among children treated with rhGH.Objective and hypotheses: The main aim of this study was to evaluate IGF1 levels and growth velocity before and after a medical intervention in...

Background: Central precocious puberty (CPP) is a premature activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. One of its negative effects is lower final adult height (FAH) due to premature epiphyseal closure. GnRH analogues act by desensitizing GnRH receptors and stopping the progression of puberty and prolonging growth period.Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the effect of the GnRH analogue on FAH and identify facto...

Introduction: Recently novel approaches, through implementation of next-generation sequencing (NGS) in clinical practice for genetic evaluation of idiopathic short stature, has permitted to identify new variants of genes which modulate function of growth plate, including heterozygous mutations of the aggrecan gene. Aggrecan, a large chondroitin sulfated proteoglycan, is a major structural component of the extracellular matrix of cartilage, including growth pla...

Background: Transient neonatal diabetes (TNDM) is commonly caused by a methylation loss in the 6q24 region, either in isolation or as multiple-loci demethylation due to ZFP57 gene mutation. TNDM is biphasic; usually resolves after 2–3 months but often recurs between age 4 and late adolescence.Case: The boy was born at 38 weeks of gestation (birth weight 3340 g, healthy consanguineous Turkish parents, unremarkable pregnancy). He presented at...

Background: Virilization at puberty in girls remains a challenge. Several differential diagnoses must be considered including disorders of sex development (DSD) and tumors.Case Report: We report an 11.5-year-old girl who was referred to our center for progressive cliteromegaly since 6 months. Past medical history was remarkable for prematurity of 36 weeks gestation and for mild ongoing psychomotor delay. At presentation ...

Background: At present, treatment of „classic" congenital adrenal hyperplasia (21-hydroxylase-deficiency, 21OHD) consists of glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid replacement. However, often androgen excess and its negative metabolic impact are difficult to control without accepting glucocorticoid overtreatment, especially in adolescence. In healthy subjects oral contraceptives (containing ethinylestradiol) increase cortisol binding capacity and free c...

Objectives: Deficiency of the short stature homeobox-containing (SHOX) gene is a potential etiology of short stature in children. The phenotypic spectrum of SHOX deficiency disorders, caused by haploinsufficiency of the SHOX-gene and inherited in a pseudo-autosomal dominant manner, is highly variable, even within the same family, ranging from nonspecific short stature to Leri-Weill dyschondrosteosis (LWD). Short stature, mesomelia and Madelung deformity define the classic clin...