ESPE Abstracts

Background: GH deficiency (GHD) is classically defined on the basis of a cut-off applied to the peak GH level during stimulation tests; a process with recognised limitations. Identifying the functional role of genes whose expression is associated with pGH may help with our understanding and classification of GHD.Objective and hypotheses: Identify patterns of gene expression (GE) related to pGH and to describe the function, and regulation of these genes.<...

Background: Response to GH treatment has been associated with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the promoter region of growth-related genes including GRB10 (rs1024531 (A/G, allele A increased response)), IGFBP3 (rs3110697 (G/A, G increased response)), CYP19A1 (rs10459592 (T/C, T increased response)) and SOS1 (rs2888586 (G/C, C increased response)). SOS1 is a positive regulator of GH signalling (MAPK pathway); the aromatase CYP19A1 promotes oestrogen synthesis to im...

Background: Prediction of response to recombinant GH (r-GH) is currently based on regression modelling. This approach generates a prediction equation which can be applied to data from an individual child. However this method can underestimate the effect of inter-dependent variables. Random forest classification (RFC) is an alternative prediction method based on decision trees that is not sensitive to the relationships between variables.Objective and hypo...

Introduction: Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) is a rare, pleiotropic, autosomal recessive disorder, with prevalence between 1 in 100,000 – 160,000 in Europe and the USA. It is characterised by 6 cardinal features: rod-cone dystrophy, truncal obesity, cognitive impairment, hypogonadism and genitourinary anomalies, postaxial polydactyly and renal dysfunction, as well as a plethora of secondary features spanning multiple body systems. BBS belongs to a family of ...

Treating short stature in children born small for gestational age (SGA) requires daily growth hormone (GH) injections that are burdensome for patients and caregivers. Results from REAL5 (ongoing randomised, multinational, open-label, controlled, dose-finding phase 2 trial; NCT03878446) indicate that somapacitan (0.24 mg/kg/week) has an efficacy, safety, and tolerability profile similar to daily GH (0.067 mg/kg/day) after 52 weeks of treatment in children born SGA. Predicting G...

Background: Nerve conduction velocity (NCV) abnormalities are considered as early signs of peripheral neuropathy in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). We investigated which determinants NCV is subject to and how it is related to markers of metabolic control.Methods: We included 51 patients treated at the outpatient clinic of paediatric diabetology because of their type 1 DM and randomly assigned them for a nerve condu...

Responsiveness to recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) treatment in Turner syndrome (TS) is highly variable. Previous research has characterised genetic variants associated with rhGH response but these only have a minor impact. The relationship of these genetic variants to the blood transcriptome is unknown. The aim of this analysis was to relate unsupervised baseline blood transcriptome and genetic data from TS patients to their phenotype, karyotype and responsiveness to r...

Background: β-thalassemia major (β-TM) is the most common genetically determined chronic hemolytic anemia. Studies reported that patients with β-thalassemia are zinc deficient due to increased utilization of zinc by oxidative stress, increased urinary zinc excretion and sequestration in the liver.The development of abnormal glucose tolerance in β-TM is associated with alteration in oxidant-antioxidant status. Zinc plays an essen...

Background: In humans GRB10 negatively regulates GH and IGF1 signaling predominantly via altering phosphorylation of PI3K/mTOR/AKT and MEK/ERK pathways which relate to both growth and metabolic function. We have previously shown that Grb10 knockdown in Zebrafish results in overgrowth with an increase in length and head size. However the impact on weight in relation to length has not been assessed.Objective: To develop a model t...

Background: Many children with short stature (defined as height SDS <−2S.D.) have no identified cause for their growth impairment and are classified as either small for gestational age or idiopathic short stature depending on birth size. Whole exome sequencing (WES) is a useful tool to identify new genetic diagnoses in this group. Here we describe a recurrent NDUFB3 mutation in children with intra-uterine growth retardation, short stature and ...