ESPE Abstracts

Background: The peptides obestatin and adropin are thought to regulate glucose and lipid metabolism, weight gain, and fluid intake in adults. The roles of obestatin and adropin in the regulation of weight and glucose and lipid metabolism in Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) and non-syndromic pediatric obesity are poorly understood. This study compares the concentrations of obestatin and adropin in infants and children with PWS and age- and BMI-z matched controls, and explores the as...

Background: Congenital growth hormone deficiency may be isolated (IGHD) or multiple pituitary hormone deficiency (MPHD). The Sonic Hedgehog signalling (SHH) pathway has an important role in the pituitary development and growth, acting early in ventral forebrain. The SHH signalling mediates its effects through three zinc fingers proteins (Gli1, Gli2 and Gli3), which lead to activation or repression of target genes. Several heterozygous GLI2 mutations have been reported in patie...

Introduction: Insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) mutations lead to systemic disturbances in growth due to widespread IGF1R expression throughout the body. IGF1R is expressed by innate and adaptive immune cells, facilitating their development and exerting immunomodulatory roles in the periphery.Case Report: We detected a novel heterozygous variant c.664 C > T (NM_000875) of IGF1R in a Chinese family with sho...

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...

It is generally accepted that androgens produced by fetal Leydig cells (FLC) control proper masculinization of the male external genitalia. Here, we hypothesized that the human genital tubercle (GT) has potential to synthesize androgens independently of FLC at early pregnancy. We observed that human GT of both genders have capacity to synthesize steroids of the Δ4, Δ5 and alternative pathway of DHT synthesis including the androgen itself. The presence of steroids in ...

Background: Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) plays a key role in reproduction. The G-protein coupled FSH receptor (FSHR), is expressed primarily in gonads, and specifically binds FSH. FSHR is also expressed in vascular endothelium, osteoclasts, adipose tissue, monocytes and rodent pancreatic islets. Elevated FSH levels are associated with development of obesity, insulin resistance, osteoporosis, and cardiovascular disease. In a recent study, we showed that h...

Background: Adipose tissue is an important endocrine organ. Its secretion profile is robustly changed in the context of obesity fueling the development of comorbidities such as insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus type 2, and atherosclerosis. We have recently shown that the adipose tissue expression of the death ligand TNF-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand TRAIL and its receptors is upregulated in obesity.Objective and Hypotheses: In this project, we in...

Background: Functional studies on uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) are important to identify potential pharmacological targets which interfere with energy metabolism. However, current cell models of human origin are scarce due to limited tissue availability. In this study, we generated human preadipocytes and adipocytes with an overexpression of UCP1 and studied the metabolic function of these cells.Methods: Human Simpson-Golabi-Behmel syndrome (SGBS) cells w...

Background: Obesity is tightly associated with adipose tissue inflammation. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) has been identified as a key player in this inflammatory process and has been linked to the development of obesity-associated insulin resistance. Our group studies the involvement of TNF superfamily members in obesity-induced alterations in adipose tissue.Objective and hypotheses: Here, we aimed to identify the effects of the TNF superfamil...

In the typical developing gonad, cells with XY chromosomes become masculinised into Sertoli cells, leading to the development of the bipotential gonad into testes. Disruptions to sex determining genes and transcription factors, or XX chromosome complement, typically leads to failure of Sertoli cell development. In the study of sex determination, upregulation of specific genes in animal models has sucessfully led to male factor expression in XX cells in some animals but not in ...