ESPE Abstracts

Background: Rare genetic causes of obesity include variants in genes within the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) pathway, a principal regulator of energy balance. Weight and hunger reductions following treatment with the MC4R agonist setmelanotide have been demonstrated in patients with obesity due to variants in multiple genes, including POMC, LEPR, SRC1, and SH2B1. We describe a trial design of setmelanotide in patients with addition...

Introduction: The Glucagon-like Peptide(GLP1)-analogue liraglutide is the first drug approved for the treatment of obesity in adolescents in Europe. While clinically relevant effects of liraglutide treatment in adolescents with obesity had been shown in a phase III study, there are no reports about the use under real-life conditions in these patients. Our aim was to report the effect of treatment with liraglutide on body weight loss in a cohort of adolescents ...

Background: Leptin is produced by adipocytes and regulates central hunger and satiety sensation. While the central leptin effects are well understood, little is known about the regulation of peripheral leptin production. Clinical data demonstrate that leptin levels are rapidly declining upon fasting, suggesting that leptin secretion is acutely regulated by nutrient availability. Although it has been previously shown that leptin secretion is under control by gl...

Introduction: Until recently, bariatric surgery (BS) has been the only option for clinically meaningful weight reduction for adolescents and youth with extreme obesity. Low participation rate in follow-up examinations and low supplement intake after BS in adolescents has been described in literature (PMID: 24048144, 25078533). We developed a structured pre- and post-bariatric surgery program in order to improve follow-up rate and supplement intake in adolescen...

Recently, we identified Neuritin 1 (NRN1) as preferentially expressed in human white compared to brown adipocyte progenitor cells. In mice, Nrn1 deficiency leads to a reduction in body weight, indicating that it might regulate body weight. In this study, we aim to address the function of NRN1 regarding adipocyte metabolism in vitro and in vivo. We used human SGBS preadipocytes as an in vitro model system. NRN1-deficient cells were generated using len...

Purpose: States of starvation are characterized by reduced physical activity and social withdrawal. The reduction of leptin levels during starvation has been proposed to be a mediator of these changes, therefore we aimed to ascertain if leptin substitution in patients with congenital leptin deficiency (CLD) can increase physical activity and improve mood.Methods: Seven CLD patients were filmed prior to and after short te...

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most prevalent cancer in childhood. Over the past decades, survival rates increased, but relapse is still associated with a poor prognosis, especially if the bone marrow (BM) is affected. Marrow adipose tissue (MAT) constitutes a major part of the BM niche, but its impact on normal hematopoiesis versus leukemia initiation, progression and relapse has only recently gained attention. MAT is very sensitive to changes in the patient’s...

Introduction: The term lipodystrophy describes a rare disease subdivided into a heterogenous group of even rarer subforms. The rarity of this disease makes research in this area extremely difficult and international co-operation is mandatory to accumulate data sets of sufficient size. The European Consortium of Lipodystrophy (ECLip) consisting of an association of European experts in the field of lipodystrophy has therefore decided to set up a registry for patients with lipody...

Background: Recently, patients with severe obesity have been described due to functional leptin deficiency. This new entity is characterized by high immunoreactive levels of circulating leptin (Lep), but a reduced bioactivity of the hormone due to defective receptor binding (N Engl J Med 2015;372:48–54). Since these patients can be successfully treated with human recombinant leptin (metreleptin), a diagnostic tool to detect functional leptin deficiency is needed.<p cl...

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...