ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Childhood obesity is associated with several complications, involving many systems. The prevalence of respiratory problems, such as obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), is higher in obese children and adolescents. In fact, OSAS affects 13–59% of obese children and the severity is strongly associated with weight excess. Although overnight pulse oximetry (PO) can be used for diagnosing OSAS, a complete night polysomnography (PSG), which re...

Obesity is increasing, and the related complications are well known. Clinical Trials related with specific diets are currently lacking in paediatrics. There is an increasing interest in Mediterranean diet (MD). The Med4Youth European study* has enrolled 240, 13- to 16-year-old subjects with a BMI above the 90th percentile(WHO curves) in a multicenter randomized controlled trial (Italy, Spain and Portugal) to evaluate the effects of MD. We present the data relative to the 80 su...

CHOPS syndrome is a rare monogenic disorder caused by heterozygous gain-of-function variants in AFF4. The 13 patients reported to date share a highly recognizable phenotype: Coarse face, Cognitive impairment, Heart defects, Obesity, Pulmonary involvement, Short stature and Skeletal dysplasia. AFF4 encodes a scaffold protein involved in transcriptional elongation and critical for gene expression regulation during embryogenesis. Notably, it appears to regulate adipogenic differe...

Background: Fetal growth is partly regulated by epigenetic factors, such as DNA methylation. Altered methylation status in placental genes relates to gestational diabetes, preeclampsia and prematurity. However, the epigenetic mechanisms underlying fetal growth restraint in uncomplicated pregnancies remain unknown.Objective and hypotheses: We aimed at identifying new candidate genes related to fetal growth, by assessing DNA methylation profiling in placen...

Background: Achondroplasia (ACH) and hypochondroplasia (HCH) are the most common forms of chondrodysplasia. ACH is characterized by rhizomelic short stature, macrocephaly and lumber lordosis. Because HCH is clinically milder, HCH is often goes unrecognized in childhood but is diagnosed in adult life when disproportionate short stature becomes obvious.Objective: Although episodic reports showed the recombinant human GH (rhGH) treatment may improve short-t...

Background: Pseudohypoparathyroidism 1A, newly classified as inactivating PTH/PTHrP signaling disorder type 2 (iPPSD2), is defined by resistance to parathyroid hormone, short stature and early-onset obesity. Short stature is caused by skeletal dysplasia and additionally, in some cases, also by the coexistence of growth hormone deficiency, as other hormonal resistances might be present (e.g. thyroid-stimulating hormone, growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH), ...

Achondroplasia is a rare genetic condition caused by a recurrent pathogenetic variant in the FGFR3 gene resulting in short limb skeletal dysplasia. Due to the wide-ranging anomalies associated with achondroplasia (both peculiar clinical features and complications), a multidisciplinary team is often required for ongoing care, although the nature of specialists involved differs among countries. Despite a European consensus on principles for the management of achondropla...

MOPD is known to be caused by homozygous loss-of-function mutations in a specific gene, PCNT. Both intra- and interfamilial clinical variability (even for the same variant) have been frequently observed, which makes it difficult to infer a genotype–phenotype correlation. Pericentrin (PCTN) is a structural protein expressed in the centrosome that plays a fundamental role in anchoring protein complexes, regulating mitotic cycle and thus cell proliferation. High levels of m...

Cystic Fibrosis (CF), is due to CF-transmembrane-conductance-regulator (CFTR) loss-of-function. Significant heterogeneity exists between patients, suggesting potential epigenetic regulation, and comorbidities develop with time. MiRNAs are non-coding RNAs that act as epigenetic regulators. Although many studies have focused on the role for miRNAs in regulating CFTR gene expression, little attention has been given to how CFTR influences their expression and how this affects grow...

The growth response in patients undergoing GH treatment is variable depending both on the patient's basal conditions and on personal innate sensitivity to therapy. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are epigenetic regulators of gene expression, and are recognised as important regulators of biological and metabolic processes. It is unknown at present whether miRNAs could be early biomarkers of response to GH treatment in a perspective of individualised medicine, and whether they could disc...