ESPE Abstracts

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 ...

Background: Thyroid hormones contribute to a wide range of physiological processes and health outcomes. Epigenetic regulation of thyroid development and function has been little explored. PAX8 (Paired Box 8) is a thyroid transcription factor implicated in thyroid gland development and differentiation. PAX8 gene methylation appears to be sensitive to the environment in early pregnancy.Methods and Findings: Using a recall-by-epige...

We introduce the ReTRIACt Trial (NCT05579327) of tiratricol (Triac) for MCT8-deficiency, a rare X-linked disease resulting from disordered thyroid hormone transport and characterized by profound neurodevelopmental delay and features of chronic peripheral thyrotoxicosis. The ReTRIACt Trial aims to verify the effects of tiratricol observed in previous studies. It is a double-blind, randomized, multicenter, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the effects of tiratricol discontinu...

Introduction: The annual incidence of severe influenza infections reaches 5 million cases globally. Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) are known to suffer more severe influenza infections, with increased mortality. Despite vaccination being recommended as standard of care, vaccination uptake rates have remained low for our DM patients. We undertook a quality improvement (QI) initiative to improve influenza vaccination uptake rates in our paediatric DM clinic...

Introduction: Our study aimed to describe the clinical profile of children with central precocious puberty (CPP) presenting to a single tertiary centre, and to determine the factors that would lead patients and families to pursue treatment with gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist as well as the predictors of a more favourable final adult height in this cohort.Methods: We conducted a retrospective medical chart...

Background: The process of sexual differentiation is critical for reproduction in nearly all metazoan. Defects in any of the genes involved in either testicular or ovarian development can result in disorders of sex development (DSD). CBX2/M33 is a chromatin modifier that plays an important role in sexual development and its disorders, highlighted by the fact that M33-deficient mice have male-to-female sex reversal and loss-of-function of CBX2 causes 46, XY DSD...

Background: The process of sexual differentiation is critical for reproduction in nearly all metazoan. Defects in any of the genes involved in either testicular or ovarian development can result in disorders of sex development (DSD). CBX2/M33 is a chromatin modifier that plays an important role in sexual development and its disorders, highlighted by the fact that M33-deficient mice have male-to-female sex reversal and loss-of-function of CBX2 causes 46, XY DSD in humans. Human...

Background: The hepatokine FGF21 signals through a dual receptor complex consisting of FGFR1c and the obligatory co-receptor β-Klotho to regulate glucose and lipid metabolism. Interestingly, female mice with Fgf21 transgenic overexpression are not only resistant to high-fat diet induced obesity but also present with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH) and infertility. Loss-of-function (LOF) mutations in FGFR1 are a frequent cause of congenital HH (CHH). W...

Background: Hyponatremia is one of the most common electrolyte disorders in hospitalized children and early diagnosis and management are crucial to prevent morbidity and mortality. Because of the physiological resistance to aldosterone under 3 months of age, the mechanisms leading to hyponatremia are often misunderstood.Objective and hypotheses: To assess the prevalence of hyponatremia in hospitalized infants younger than 100 days and evaluate the mechan...

Background: The genetic etiology of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) is well recognized, with over 60 loci being identified to date, mainly through genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Most of these genetic associations involve common variants, while a sizable portion of the missing heritability of T1D could be attributed to unidentified rare single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (minor allele frequency (MAF) < 5%). The recent availability of large human whole genome sequencing d...