ESPE Abstracts

Short stature is one of the most common concerns presented to pediatric endocrinologists. ISS describes a heterogeneous group of children with a height of more than 2 SD score (SDS) below the corresponding mean height for a given age, sex, and population group without underlying aetiology. The primary objectives of GH treatment are acceleration of growth velocity to promote normalization of stature during childhood and attainment of normal FAH.Ob...

Introduction: According to EAU's guidelines, hypospadias (HS) repair is best performed between 6 and 18 months of age. Little is known about the long-term patient satisfaction or urological outcome following HS surgery.Aims: To examine the psychosexual and urological outcome of young adult men (16-21 years old) born with all forms of non-syndromic HS as compared to healthy controls, as well as patient and parental sa...

Introduction: Limited, small-scale studies have revealed that men with proximal hypospadias (HS) or with other signs of undermasculinisation (i.e. complex HS) are at risk of reduced fertility and/or impaired testicular hormone synthesis. However, the extent of this phenomenon and if milder forms of isolated HS are also affected, remains unclear.Aims: To explore reproductive hormones and semen quality of young men (16-21 ...

Introduction: Mutations in the thyroid hormone (TH) transporter MCT8 result in MCT8 deficiency, which is characterized by severe intellectual and motor disability and high serum T3 concentrations inducing thyrotoxicity in peripheral tissues. At present, no effective treatment is available, although preclinical studies suggest that the T3 analog Triac is a promising candidate to i) normalize serum T3 levels and thus alleviate the thyrotoxicosis and ii) restore TH signaling in t...

Objective: The treatment of children with classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency (CAH) is a challenge since both undertreatment and overtreatment with glucocorticoids can affect growth. Numerous reports in the literature have shown that the linear growth of individuals with CAH is affected and adult height is compromised. However, most of these data were obtained in the era before CAH newborn screening....

Background and Aim: Several genetic variants associating with hepatic fat content in adults have been identified in genome-wide association studies. Their effects in children remain unclear. This study aimed to test the effect of genetic variants known to associate with hepatic fat in adults, individually and combined as a genetic risk score (GRS), on cardiometabolic traits, and to investigate the predictive ability of the GRS for hepatic steatosis in children...

Background: Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is the most common endocrine disorder in neonates and is predominantly caused by developmental abnormalities known as thyroid dysgenesis (TD). Several transcription factors have been described in its aetiology, but defects in the known genes only account for a small proportion of cases.Methods: To identify novel genes involved in TD, we performed exome sequencing in 7 unrelated ...

Background: Kinase suppressor of Ras 2 (KSR2) gene codes for a scaffold protein modulating intracellular pathways that involve MEK/BRAF cascade and AMPK signaling. KSR2 plays an important role in energy balance regulation, and KSR2 mutations were reported to be associated with obesity and insulin resistance in mice and humans. In transfected cells, several KSR2 mutations lead to impaired fatty acid oxidation, which improved under met...

Calcium signaling is fundamental to many cellular processes. An important pathway for increasing intracellular Ca2+ levels is store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) regulated by stromal interaction molecule (STIM1-2), and Ca2+ channels formed by ORAI1-3 proteins. Mutations in the ORAI1 and STIM1 genes that abolish SOCE cause a combined immunodeficiency (CID) syndrome that is accompanied by autoimmunity and nonimmunologic symptoms. We present patients with Anhidrotic Ectodermal Dyspl...

Background: Hypospadias affects approximately 1/200 newborn males. Based on the testicular dysgenesis syndrome hypothesis, some may be suspected of having persistent testicular dysfunction later in life. Few clinical data currently support this hypothesis.Methods: Cross-sectional assessment of hypospadias cases (n = 193) and controls (n = 50), aged 16-21 years, recruited at Ghent University Hospital and...