ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Subclinical hypothyroidism (SH) is a biochemical condition characterized by serum levels of TSH above the reference range upper limit (4,5μUI/mL), with normal concentrations of thyroid hormones. In cases of non-autoimmune subclinical hypothyroidism (NASHT), genetic defects have been described and can determine disorders in the biosynthesis process of thyroid hormones, such as heterozygous mutations in the TSH receptor gene (TSHR) and ...

Abnormal DNA methylation contributes to tumor progression and is emerging as a prognostic marker in several types of cancers. To investigate whether DNA methylation is associated with pediatric adrenocortical tumor (pACT) presentation and patient prognosis, we analyzed the methylation profile of 57 tumors (MethylationEPIC BeadChip Array-Illumina) and patients’ clinicopathological features and outcome. The study comprehended 40 girls and 17 boys, with median age at diagnos...

Background: Impairment of the chromatin remodeling factors ATRX and DAXX and telomeres abnormality play a role in cancer biology, influencing the clinical outcomes. However, their roles in adrenal tumorigenesis require broader investigation.Aim: To evaluate ATRX and DAXX genotype and expression, telomere length, and the alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT), as well as their clinical significance, in primary adrenoc...

Background: Severe congenital growth hormone deficiency (cGHD) is a rare but potentially life-threatening condition. Even though random growth hormone (GH) can confirm cGHD during the first week of life, the diagnosis remains extremely challenging in the absence of reliable reference values in healthy neonates and thus of a best diagnostic cut-off.Aims: First, to provide solid reference values for GH concentrations in te...

Beckwith Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) is a rare overgrowth disorder characterised by macroglossia, exomphalos, lateralised overgrowth, organomegaly, hyperinsulinism, and an increased risk of embryonic tumor during early life. In about 80% of BWS cases, molecular defects are identified at the imprinted 11p15.5 region which contains the IGF2 and the CDKN1C genes (most patients show methylation defects at either imprinting control region IC1 or IC2, or paternal unip...

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...

Background and aim: Congenital growth hormone deficiency (cGHD) is a rare but life-threatening condition whose diagnosis is challenging in the absence of reliable reference values, both in healthy neonates and in preterm ones. We recently estimated GH reference interval in 1036 healthy, at-term newborns (HN) form dried blood spot samples using a previously validated analytical method.Aim: of this study is to provide valu...

Introduction: Age at pubertal onset is a markedly inherited trait. The most common cause of pubertal delay, self-limited pubertal delay, is defined by the absence of secondary sexual characteristics after 13 years in girls and 14 years in boys, with progression before age 18. This study aimed to detect novel candidate genes for self-limited pubertal delay.Methods: Eighty-one patients with confirmed self-limited delayed p...

Background: Hypophosphatemic rickets (HR) stands for a heterogenous group of rare disorders in which excessive renal phosphate wasting is observed. The main characteristics of X-linked HR (XLHR) (OMIM #307800) caused by mutation in PHEX (phosphate-regulating endopeptidase) gene (OMIM *300550) include bone deformities, disproportionately short stature, dental anomalies and hypophosphatemia with coexisting low renal phosphate reabsorption. The patie...

Background: Hypophosphatemic rickets (HR) is a group of rare disorders caused by an excessive renal phosphate wasting. X-linked HR (XLHR) is caused by mutation in PHEX (phosphate-regulating endopeptidase) gene and is characterized mainly by bone deformities, disproportionately short stature, dental anomalies and hypophosphatemia with coexisting low renal phosphate reabsorption. Early treatment with vitamin D and phosphate improves the patient’s growth. Recombinan...