ESPE Abstracts

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 Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS).<p class="abstex...

Background: Age at onset of puberty exhibits a remarkable variation mirroring nutritional, environmental, socioeconomic and genetic factors. While large genome-wide association studies identified more than hundred genetic loci associated with age at menarche in girls, knowledge on loci associated with age at pubertal onset in boys is sparse. FSHB/FSHR genetic variants have been shown to affect pubertal timing in girls and reproductive parameters in men.<p class="a...

Background: The majority of children with short stature are classified as idiopathic short stature. Whole exome sequencing can help identify genetic causes of short stature.Methods: We recruited 10 children with short stature of unknown etiology. We conducted whole exome sequencing of the patients and their family members. We used an analysis pipeline to identify rare nonsynonymous genetic variants that might cause the short stature. All rare allelic var...

Background: Epidemiologic studies have shown strong associations between high carotenoids levels and reduced risk of developing various forms of cancer, cardiovascular system diseases, etc.Objective and hypotheses: Carotenoids are hydrophobic substances and are contained in blood in lipoprotein particles. Their conformation depends on their molecular environment. By evaluating the conformation of carotenoids we can obtain various information about the li...

Background: In the last decade, an increase in the incidence of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) has been observed worldwide, as well as an increase in the incidence of allergies in childhood. Both diseases are characterized by an imbalance between Th1- and Th2 cells. Autoimmune disorders are considered to be associated with a Th1 immune response while allergic diseases with a Th2 response. However, studies conducted to find a correlation between T1D and atopic diseases are hete...

Background: Adults have a weight that is normal for them. This is referred to as their ‘set-point’ for weight. Studies have shown physiological protection of this set-point, explaining why most obese adults who diet eventually regain weight.Objective and hypotheses: We hypothesised that set-points for weight, and their physiological defence, are flexible in childhood but become fixed sometime around puberty. We aimed to show that obese children...

Background: Emerging evidence suggests FTO polymorphisms are associated with obesity-related comorbidities including type 2 diabetes (T2DM), hypertension and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). However association of FTO with other comorbidities such as obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) in paediatric populations is less clear.Objective and hypotheses: To investigate the prevalence of obesity-related comorbidities according to FTO genotype in an obese paedia...

Introduction: Salivary androgens represent a non-invasive marker of puberty that may have utility in population studies as well as in the clinical arena.Objectives: To establish normal reference values of salivary androgens using LC-MS/MS and demonstrate the correlations between salivary androgens and pubertal development in boys.Methods: School-based adolescent cohort study with t...

Background: The male Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Gonadal (HPG) axis undergoes a transient activity phase during the first months of life with surging serum concentrations of reproductive hormones. Theoretically, the hormonal surge could represent a passive postnatal feedback to the withdrawal from the high sex steroid levels in pregnancy. However, we believe that minipuberty rather represents an active, tightly genetically-regulated biological process. We therefore...

Background: In minipuberty, the male hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis is transiently activated triggering a surge in reproductive hormones causing growth of the genitalia. Longitudinal individual growth of the infant penis during minipuberty and associations to the HPG axis and IGF-I have not been thoroughly assessed.Aim: To describe the development of penile length and width as well as their relation to serum c...