ESPE Abstracts

Protein arginine methyltransferase 7 (PRMT7), a member of a family of enzymes that catalyse the transfer of methyl groups from S-adenosyl-L-methionine to nitrogen atoms on arginine residues, is involved in multiple biological processes, such as signal transduction, mRNA splicing, transcriptional control, DNA repair, and protein translocation. Currently, 12 patients with homozygous/compound heterozygous mutations in PRMT7 gene have been described defining the ...

Introduction: Genetic factors play an important role in determining individual susceptibility to weight gain and obesity. In the last few years, several genetic variants have been identified as monogenic forms of obesity. Among them, Leptin (LEP) and its receptor on hypothalamic neurons (LEPR) are key players in the regulation of body weight, food intake and energy homeostasis. Pathogenic variants in the LEPR gene cause severe childhood-onset obesity with an a...

Noonan syndrome (NS) is an autosomal dominant, variably expressed, multisystem disorder with an estimated prevalence of 1 in 1000–2500. In 2001, PTPN11 was the first gene associated to Noonan syndrome; now, at least 20 other genes have been discovered especially in the RAS–MAPK signalling pathway. More recently, missense mutations in RIT1 have been reported as causative of NS. A six-years female patient was referred to our Hospital for short stature (<-2 sds) an...

DICER1, a gene located on chromosome 14q32.13, encodes a protein ribonuclease (RNase) IIIb that plays a central regulatory role in miRNA processing. DICER1 syndrome has an autosomal dominant inheritance and predisposes affected individuals to a wide variety of tumors, both benign and malignant. We describe the case of a 6-year-old girl, carrier of a DICER1 germline mutation, and affected by a differentiated thyroid carcinoma. At the age of 6 a first thyroid ultrasound revealed...

The overall remission rate after 2 years of anti-thyroid drug treatment (ATD) in pediatric patients with autoimmune hyperthyroidism (AI) is 20-30%. The European Thyroid Association (ETA) recommends longer duration of ATD therapy in patients who have low likelihood of remission. Older age, female sex, ethnicity, small goiter, mild biochemical derangement at diagnosis, lower TSH receptor antibodies (TRAb) titer, history of other autoimmune conditions, duration of ATD treatment, ...

Background: DHEAS is the most abundant adrenal steroid and it is also a neurosteroid, produced at the cerebral level from pregnenolone and 17OH-pregnenolone. It antagonizes the effects of cortisol at the level of glucocorticoid receptors, modulating biological energy output, inflammatory status, action of other steroidal hormones, and different brain functions, hypothalamus being rich in corticosteroid receptors. DHEAS secretion is usually synchronized with co...

Introduction: Both the detrimental effects on health produced by obesity, and the burden provoked on healthcare systems clearly dictate the need to provide nutritional interventions for preventing and managing obesity during childhood. Furthermore, the lifestyle habits developed in early childhood have a long lasting effect on cardiovascular and metabolic health, highlighting the importance of prevention. PODiaCar project is dedicated to enhancing the efforts ...

Background: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most frequently reported cancer in paediatrics. Reduced bone mineral density (BMD) and increased risk of fractures have been well-documented in this population, but long-term longitudinal trendlines of BMD and data about the impact of bone turnover markers are still scarce. Additionally, changes in body composition have to be furtherly analysed among childhood ALL survivors.St...

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...

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...