ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early spring 2020, there was a need to identify the burden of this infection on people with rare endocrine conditions. The European Registries For Rare Endocrine Conditions (EuRRECa) was launched in 2018 in collaboration with Endo-ERN, ESPE and ESE to support the needs of the wider endocrine community. The project consists of an e-reporting (e-REC) platform that allows monthly reporting of new clini...

Polycystic ovary syndrome is the most common cause of hirsutism and menstrual irregularity in adolescent girls and young women. It is often accompanied by obesity and insulin resistance and is associated to lifelong co-morbidities, including subfertility, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, pre-menopausal cancer, depression, low health-related Qol, and pregnancy and offspring complications. PCOS in adolescent girls is commonly driven by fat excess in subcutaneo...

Introduction: Androgens are essential for the development of male sex characteristics. Testosterone (T) production from androstenedione (A) by the Hydroxysteroid 17-Beta Dehydrogenase 3 (HSD17B3) in gonadal Leydig cells triggers the differentiation of the Wolffian ducts into epididymis, vas deferens, seminal vesicles and the prostate. Shortly after, the virilisation of the external male genitalia starts through the conversion of T into dihydrotestosterone (DHT...

Background: Abnormalities in the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis have been reported in Noonan syndrome (NS) males but few data are available in female patients. Objective: The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the gonadal function of female patients with NS and to look for genotype-phenotype correlations. Patients and Methods: The study population included 19 girls/adolescents with a genetically confirmed diagnosis of NS and with available cli...

Background: The role of retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4) in the insulin resistance associated with obesity is still unclear and various studies have analyzed the role of its gene polymorphisms as a potential key to understanding the mechanisms involved.Aim: The current study aimed to analyze the relationship between RBP4 levels, the distribution of two SNP (rs3758539 and rs10882280) and the metabolic, anthropometric para...

Background: Pseudohypoparathyroidism type 1A (PHP1A) and PseudoPHP are caused respectively by maternal and paternal mutations involving those GNAS exons that encode the alpha-subunit of the stimulatory G protein (Gsα). Common to different forms of PHP1B is a loss-of-methylation (LOM) at one or several maternal GNAS exons, which likely reduces Gsα expression in certain tissues. In most autosomal dominant PHP1B variants (AD-PHP1B), LOM is restricted t...

Background: Rare metabolic bone diseases (RMBD) are at the crossways of Endocrinology, Nephrology, Orthopaedic surgery and Rheumatology. Most of RMBD lead to short stature, bone pain, tooth anomalies, leg deformities, bone fragility and disability of variable importance. The organization of care varies immensely amongst European countries. Several European networks dedicated to RMBD already exist, supported by societies such as ESPE, ECTS or research grants, albeit their focus...

Background: Phthalate exposure results in endocrine disruption by inhibiting steroidogenesis, inducing focal dysgenesis and disrupting germ cell development in the rat fetal testis. Whilst phthalate exposure does not reduce testosterone production by the human fetal testis, its effects on germ cells and induction of dysgenetic areas in the developing human testis are less well described.Objective and Hypotheses: To determine the effects of phthalate expo...

Background: Adipose tissue is an important endocrine organ. Its secretion profile is robustly changed in the context of obesity fueling the development of comorbidities such as insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus type 2, and atherosclerosis. We have recently shown that the adipose tissue expression of the death ligand TNF-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand TRAIL and its receptors is upregulated in obesity.Objective and Hypotheses: In this project, we in...

Background: It is long been known that thyroid hormone (TH) is essential for brain development; however most evidence is based almost on rodent models. Since the advent of advanced neuroimaging techniques, it is now possible to study the manifestations of TH role in developing human brain.Objective and hypotheses: To examine findings from structural and functional MRI investigations of maternal hypothyroidism and congenital hypothyroidism (CH), which rep...