ESPE Abstracts

Background: Anogenital distance (AGD) is an indicator of androgen action in utero. Reduced AGD has been found in males with hypospadias, cryptorchidism, low semen quality and infertility. Its usefulness as a clinical marker in patients with Disorders of Sex Development (DSD) is currently being investigated. However, detailed age, sex and method related reference ranges do not exist. Whether individual (body-size-adjusted) AGD is stable postnatally also remains to be e...

Background: Oxidative stress and adipocytokines are associated with obesity.Objective and hypotheses: To investigate the association of adipocytokines with markers of pro- and anti-oxidation at baseline and their change and correlations during acute aerobic exercise in normal weight and obese pre- and early-pubertal boys.Method: Fifty healthy pre- and early-pubertal, normal weight and obese boys, underwent a baseline blood sampling...

Background: Recently, T3 receptor alpha (TRα) mutations have been identified in a number of patients with varying degrees of growth impairment, delayed development, constipation, increases in serum T3 and decreases in T4 and rT3.Objective: To determine the spectrum of clinical and functional consequences of novel TRα mutations.Method: Clinical assessment and biochemical, imaging...

Background: FOXE1 gene variants containing alterations in the alanine tract length may confer susceptibility to primary ovarian insufficiency (POI). BMP15 gene variants have also been related to POI.Objective and hypotheses: To evaluate the contribution of FOXE1 and BMP15 variants in the pathogenesis of POI and to investigate the hypothesis of digenic inheritance in this disorder.Method: FOXE1 and BMP...

Background: Disproportional short stature (DSS) is the most frequent clinical presentation of skeletal dysplasias, which are a heterogeneous group of more than 450 disorders of bone. Skeletal survey is important to establish the diagnosis and to guide the genetic test, but has several limitations, especially in mild and atypical cases.Objective and hypotheses: To identify the genetic aetiology of DSS by exome sequencing.Method: Who...

Objective: The complex clinical phenotypes arising from HNF4A and HNF1A mutations are similar and include diazoxide-responsive CHI from infancy and maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) from adolescence. We aimed to characterise the clinical and genetic aspects of a cohort of paediatric patients with HNF4A or HNF1A mutations.Methods: Patients from five international centres over ...

Objective: KIGS (Pfizer International Growth Survey) was a large, international database of pediatric patients who received recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) as prescribed in real-world clinical settings. This analysis evaluated the long-term safety and efficacy data from all participants until KIGS close in 2012.Methods: Children with growth disorders and treated with rhGH (Genotropin® [somatropin]...

Introduction: Improvements in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) have increased survival, with the consequent concern about the long-term effects that childhood chemotherapy may have on ovarian function. AMH constitutes an indirect, reliable biomarker of the ovarian reserve, useful for the assessment of cancer therapy-related ovarian damage.Aim: To evaluate small ovarian f...

Introduction: Ovary development was once considered a largely passive process. RNA sequencing (RNAseq) approaches have allowed us to begin to characterise ovary development in previously unparalleled detail, revealing the process to be complex and, still, little understood. A challenge is synthesising and using these data to advance our understanding of clinical disease. Through a clinically-focused lens, we elucidate novel aspects of the transcriptional lands...

Introduction: Primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI) is a potentially life-threatening condition that requires appropriate diagnosis and treatment. The most common cause of PAI is congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), but other well-established aetiologies include metabolic and autoimmune disorders, and physical damage. Mutations in more than 30 genes have now been associated with PAI, with considerable biochemical and phenotypic overlap. It is therefore importan...