ESPE Abstracts

Background: We recently reported three children with severe isolated growth hormone (GH) deficiency and pituitary hypoplasia due to biallelic mutations in the RNPC3 gene, which codes for a minor spliceosome protein required for U11/U12 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein formation and splicing of U12-type introns. Although it is clear that these patients are GH deficient, the underlying mechanism for this deficit is not totally understood.Objective:...

Introduction: Short stature is defined as stature less than −2 standars deviations (SD) for a person’s age and sex of the reference population. Short for gestational age children (SGA) represent 20% of all children with short stature. 10% of these can not catch-up and remains their height below −2 SD. Growth hormone (GH) treatment is a recognized therapy for SGA children authorized in Europe at 4 years old. There are studies that support that younger children ...

Introduction: Recombinant GH is an effective treatment for short children who are born small for gestational age(SGA). Short children SGA who fail catch-up growth by 4 years of age are candidates for GH treatment, at a dose of 35–70 μg/kg per day. Factors associated with response to GH treatment during the initial 2–3 years of therapy include age and height standard deviation scores at the start of therapy, midparental height, and GH dose. It is important to kno...

Background: DLK1 or PREF1 is an imprinted gene highly expressed from the paternal allele in embryonic tissues and placenta. It has been recently implicated in adipose tissue expansion and diabetes development. The human rs1802710 polymorphism (SNP) in DLK1 gene has been associated with early-onset extreme obesity but its role determining growth is unknown.Objective and hypotheses: To study the preferential paternal transmission...

Background: The phenotypic effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may depend on their parental origin. PLAGL1 is an imprinted gene expressed from the paternal allele in placenta that is associated with fetal growth, transient neonatal diabetes mellitus and postnatal growth disorders. The mechanisms whereby PLAG1 regulates fetal growth are, however, unknown.Objective and hypotheses: To study if the preferential paternal transm...

Background: Human placenta exhibits a specific miRNA expression pattern. Some of these miRNAs are dysregulated in pregnancy disorders like preeclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), and are potential biomarkers for these pathologies. No studies have been performed in maternal obesity.Objective and hypotheses: (1) Define the placental miRNA profile in pregnant women with: a) pre-pregnancy (preOB) or gestational obesity (gestOB), b) gestation...

Background: The human microbiota has emerged as an unexpected modulator of the immune system. The placenta, long thought to be sterile, harbors a unique microbiome and variations in their composition could be related to prevent pregnancy disorders.Objective and hypotheses: To profile the placental microbiota (microorganisms) and microbiome (collection of microbial genomes in an environment) in women with gestational diabetes (GDM) and study their relatio...

Background: Acromesomelic dysplasia Maroteaux type (AMDM) (OMIM 602875) is a rare autosomal recessive skeletal disorder with an approximate prevalence of 1/1,000,000) and characterized by severe dwarfism accompanied by shortness of distal and middle segments of extremities. Mutations in the NPR2 gene which encodes for the natriuretic peptide receptor B (NPR-B) is the underlying genetic cause of this disorder.Objective and hypotheses: Genetic con...

Background: CREB-regulated transcription coactivator 3 (CRTC3) is found in adipocytes where it may promote obesity through disruption of catecholamine signaling. CRTC3 knockout mice are resistant to diet-induced obesity.Objective and Hypotheses: The goals of the present study were i) to assess whether CRTC3 is a soluble protein secreted by adipose tissue ii) to explore whether CRTC3 is detectable and quantifiable in the circulation, and iii) to ...

Background: STK11 regulates glucose and lipid metabolism. In adult rats, excessive fat deposition and dysfunctional metabolism are related to low STK11 expression in adipose tissue. It is unknown if low STK11 expression in adipose tissue relates also to catch-up growth and fat deposition after intrauterine growth restriction.Objective and Hypotheses: To assess the expression of STK11 in adipose tissue and its relation ...