ESPE Yearbook of Paediatric Endocrinology

kirsty.spalding@ki.se Nat Med 2021; 27(11): 1941–1953 doi: 10.1038/s41591-021-01501-8Brief Summary: This study analysed adipocytes from obese and hyperinsulinemic adults. They demonstrate that obesity is associated with the induction of a cell cycle program in mature adipocytes, leading to so-called endoreplication, as a strategy to remain fu...

To read the full abstract: PLoS Med. 2019 Oct 1;16(10):e1002926. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002926.The authors analysed a huge dataset from the Chinese national programme of preconception health checks, which include measurements of fasting plasma glucose. Overall, 13.15% (n =847,737) had impaired fasting glucose and 1.18% (n =76,297 women) had diabetes, of whom only...

To read the full abstract: Genome Res 2018;28:423–431The discovery of a mummified humanoid female skeleton on a shelf in a building in La Noria, Chile in 2003 created enormous scientific and popular interest. Its highly unusual appearance included a length of only 6 inches despite a bone age of 6–7 years old, marked turricephaly (a cone-shaped top of the skull), and reduced number...

To read the full abstract: Sci Rep. 2017; 7(1): 7427Prenatal dexamethasone treatment has been suggested over three decades ago to prevent virilization of a female fetus affected with 21-hydroxylase deficiency due to genetic mutations in the CYP21A2 gene. However, current treatment guidelines for CAH regard this treatment still as experimental, mainly because follow-up studies of treated fetu...

Brief summary: In this experimental study, pancreas-derived mesenchymal stem cells (PMSCs) were implanted into the kidney capsule of mice with streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes. PMSCs led to increased levels of IL-6 in T-helper 1 and T-helper 17 cells, which transiently activated tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), which in turn decreased levels of interleukin-17. This was associated with exocrine pancreas regeneration and rescue of ...

In Brief: The authors created mouse embryos in the laboratory from a combination of multiple stem cell lines. These embryos were developed ex vivo up to the equivalent of day 8.5 post-fertilization. Embryos developed within an extraembryonic yolk sac and were similar to whole natural embryos, with defined forebrain and midbrain regions, a beating heart-like structure, a neural tube and somites, a tail bud containing neuromesodermal progenitors, a gut tube, and also pr...

Brief Summary: Rare forms of diabetes (‘monogenic diabetes’) are caused by a single rare gene variant, while adult-onset T2D is influenced by thousands of common genetic variants. This study reveals that youth-onset T2D shares some genetic features with both monogenic and typical adult-onset T2D, marked by both common and rare genetic variantsComment: A significant challenge is understanding why the course of T2D in children and teenagers is mo...

Brief Summary:Using a new method, long DNA fragments from single human T-cells were sequenced after refined automated single-cell processing and droplet-based whole-genome amplification using PacBio HiFi sequencing. Compared to short-read technologies, the new long-read method markedly improved analyses of genetic variants, especially complex structural variations and variants in repeat elements; it also allowed de novo assembly of parts of the single-cell genome.<p class=...

To read the full abstract: Nature 2017;550:255-259Loss of appetite, and even aversion to food, is a common experience during periods of illness (e.g. infection and pyrexia) and/or treatment (e.g. chemotherapy). This responses is distinct from the body’s homeostatic mechanisms (the hypothalamic leptin receptor-AGRP-POMC-MC4R axis), which normally regulate appetite and weight gain in ch...

N Engl J Med 2021; 384:252–260 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2031054In the Yearbook, we have been following the CRISPR story since its very beginning. Last year, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing tool. Here, scientists have published the first successful treatment (as...