ESPE Yearbook of Paediatric Endocrinology

Brief summary: This study identified a new role for GnRH in higher brain function using a rodent model of Down Syndrome. It reports for the first time an improvement of cognitive functions in patients with Down Syndrome treated with pulsatile GnRH.GnRH neurons are classically described as a population of neurons located in the hypothalamus and responsible for the activation and regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. However, the recent de...

Nat Commun. 2020 Aug 13;11(1):4063. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-17890-2. PMID: 32792525.These researchers proposed the heterogeneity of hypothalamic neural progenitor cells. Other than traditional hypothalamic radial glial (hRG) cells, which are predominantly located in the ventricular zone, there are additional basal progenitors in the mantle zone, which are named as hypothalamic mantle zo...

Cell Rep. 2021 Apr 13;35(2):108981. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.108981. PMID: 33852861.Mutations in the promotor region of the insulin gene are associated with a subtype of neonatal diabetes mellitus (NDM). These mutations lead to abnormal transcription of the insulin gene and do so by deleting the C1 and E1 cis regulatory elements, or three different single base-pair substitutions in ...

Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2021;9:94–105. doi: 10.1016/S2213-8587(20)30399-5.This population based nested case-control study integrated registry data from Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland over 40 years to investigate the association of maternal, in-utero, and postnatal factors with thyroid cancer risk in offspring. Each patient with thyroid cancer (cases n=...

J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2020;105:3203–3214. doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgaa443. PMID: 32652002The authors performed a large genome-wide association study (GWAS) to assess the role of common genetic variants in the response to GH therapy. A total of 614 children treated with GH were included: 276 with idiopathic GHD, 297 with ISS, and 41 born SGA. The findings implicate some novel mechanisms...

Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Nov 9;21(21):8403. doi: 10.3390/ijms21218403. PMID: 33182400This case report describes a patient with clinically diagnosed partial androgen insensitivity syndrome (PAIS). However, no mutation in the androgen receptor gene was identified. Instead, whole genome sequencing revealed a heterozygous point mutation inherited from the mother in the FKBP4 gene. This gene i...

BMJ. 2021 Feb 3;372:n37. doi: 10.1136/bmj.n37. PMID: 33536184This observational cohort study used data from the French administrative healthcare database during 2007–2015 to assess the risk of meningioma development related to treatment with cyproterone acetate. The cohort comprised 253,777 participants, of whom 54% had high exposure to cyproterone acetate, and 45% had low exposure.<p cla...

Hum Reprod. 2020 Oct 1;35(10):2312–2322. 10.1093/humrep/deaa185. PMID: 32862222. https://academic.oup.com/humrep/article/35/10/2312/5899242In brief: This study shows that both the GnRH stimulation test and serum inhibin B have insufficient specificity to discriminate congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH) from c...

J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2020 Dec 1;105(12): dgaa585.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32844182/The aim of this histological study was to investigate DNA methylation and expression of genes encoding steroidogenic enzymes in benign adrenocortical tumors. The findings suggest that DNA methylation plays a regulatory role in CYP11B2 expression and may contribute to aldosterone hypersecretion in a...

J Cancer Surviv. 2021; 15: 259–272. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32844376/Long-term treatment effects are possible reasons for reduced fertility and adverse pregnancy outcomes in childhood cancer survivors (CCS) (1). This observational study reports perinatal and health outcomes of offspring born to CCS using assisted reproductive technologies (ART). CCS were almost 2-fold more like...