ESPE Abstracts

Background: ROHHAD/ROHHADNET syndrome (rapid-onset obesity with hypothalamic dysfunction, central hypoventilation, autonomic dysregulation with or without neural tumor - NET) – has been reported in association with cerebral venous thrombosis events, as reported also in central hypoventilation syndrome. It is not clear whether thrombotic risk represents a cause or a consequence of hypoventilation and hypothalamic dysfunction. Aim of our study was to chara...

Background: Childhood-onset obesity is a multifactorial disease with a lifelong health burden. In many cases, obesity is the result of the interaction between genetic predisposition and environmental factors. Aim of our study was to define phenotypic features of obese children and adolescents and to find possible associations between clinical phenotype and genetic variants.Patients and Methods: We recruited obese childre...

Noonan syndrome (NS) is an autosomal dominant, variably expressed, multisystem disorder with an estimated prevalence of 1 in 1000–2500. In 2001, PTPN11 was the first gene associated to Noonan syndrome; now, at least 20 other genes have been discovered especially in the RAS–MAPK signalling pathway. More recently, missense mutations in RIT1 have been reported as causative of NS. A six-years female patient was referred to our Hospital for short stature (<-2 sds) an...

Background/objectives: Individuals born small-for-gestational age (SGA), especially those who experience postnatal catch-up growth, are at increased risk for developing endocrine-metabolic abnormalities before puberty. In adults, brown adipose tissue (BAT) has been associated with protection against metabolic disorders, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and dyslipidaemia. Here, we assessed for the first time whether BAT activation differs between prepubertal children born SGA o...

Background: Progranulin (PGRN) displays pleiotropic biological functions including on early embryogenesis, cell proliferation, lysosomal or neuronal functioning and wound repair, and has been proposed as a biomarker for metabolic diseases. Increased PGRN levels have been reported in type 2 diabetes, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and in preeclampsia associated to placental dysfunction. However, the ontogeny of PGRN concentrations and the potential value of P...

Introduction: Despite the high detection rate of GNAS molecular defects, about 30% of patients with a clinical suspect of PHP/AHO still lack a confirming molecular diagnosis. Mutations in genes encoding proteins crucial for cAMP-mediated signaling have been recently detected in a small subset of patients negative for GNAS defects, showing a phenotypic overlap between PHP and Acrodysostosis.Clinical case pres...

Background: Hyperglycaemic hyperosmolar state (HHS) is a life-threatening condition rarely seen in paediatrics. It is however becoming increasingly recognised with the growing incidence of childhood type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).Objective and hypotheses: We present a child with Bardet–Biedel syndrome (BBS), with new-onset T2DM presenting in HHS, and discuss the dilemmas encountered in his management due to multiple co-morbidities, including renal ...

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...

Introduction: X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets (XLHR) represents the most common form of genetic hypophosphatemia and causes rickets in children because of increased FGF23 secretion and renal phosphate wasting. Even though cranial vault an craniovertebral anomalies of potential neurosurgical interest, namely early closure of the cranial sutures and Chiari type I malformation (CM-I), have been observed in children with XLH, their actual incidence and character...

Background: Low birth weight (LBW) followed by a rapid postnatal catch-up in weight predisposes individuals to a central distribution of body fat, which is reverted by metformin. Growth-and-differentiation-factor-15 (GDF15) plays an important role in the regulation of energy homeostasis, reducing food intake and lowering body weight. We aimed to assess whether GDF15 concentrations are raised by long-term metformin treatment in LBW/catch-up girls with precociou...