ESPE Yearbook of Paediatric Endocrinology

To read the full abstract: J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2019;104:2023–2030.A child born with birth weight and/or birth length less than 2 SDS below the mean for gestational age is defined as SGA [1]. This definition implies that rather than a specific diagnostic group, SGA children are a heterogenous population with different etiologies, growth patterns and metabolic outcomes. Most SGA ...

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...

Pituitary. 2021;24(2):252-261. doi: 10.1007/s11102-020-01105-4. PMID: 33156432.Brief Summary: Pituitary gigantism is a rare disease, which can be syndromic, as in McCune-Albright syndrome, Carney complex, MEN1 and MEN4, and the newly described “three P association” (paraganglioma, pheochromocytoma and pituitary adenoma) (1), or non-syndromic caused by mutations ...

J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2022 Apr 19;107(5):e1797-e1806. PMID: 35134971, doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgac064. Brief Summary: This retrospective clinical research reports the clinical/biochemical, radiological, and genetic findings of a large cohort of 209 non-syndromic 46,XY DSD patients from a single tertiary center collected over the last 25 years in Brazil. A molecular diagnosis was achieved in 59....

To read the full abstract: J Pediatr. 2019 Dec;215:192–198.Identifying the diagnosis in children with syndromic short stature and those with recognized genetic growth disorders is often challenging, as they may share many clinical features (1)(2). The candidate gene approach has many limitations in unveiling the genetic cause. Therefore, whole exome sequencing (WES) has been proposed to improve the diagnostic rate in children with short sta...

Brief Summary: This international cohort study of 404 patients identified rare likely damaging variants in the gene MECP2 in patients with central precocious puberty. Translational experiments showed that GnRH neurons in mice express Mecp2.Over the last few years, several studies have provided insight into the epigenetic regulation of the onset of puberty1-3. DNA methylation, histone post-translational modifications and non-c...

Am J Hum Genet. 2021 Aug 5;108(8):1526-1539. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2021.06.013. PMID: 34270938.Brief Summary: This study reports splice-disruptive variants in POU1F1 in 4 families with hypopituitarism and uses a high-throughput splicing reporter assay to create a comprehensive catalogue of such variants in or near exon 2 of the gene. The catalogue paves the way for identifying synon...

To read the full abstract: Horm Res Paediatr. 2019;92:1–14In March 2019, 46 international experts from 14 countries across 5 continents attended a 3-day workshop organized by the Growth Hormone Research Society (GRS) and produced this perspective on the diagnosis, management and therapy in children with short stature. In this context, this expert panel tackled almost all aspects related to the management of children with short stature, prov...

Brief Summary: this large patient cohort study identified an overrepresentation of functionally damaging variants in MC3R in individuals with constitutional delay of growth and puberty but not in patients with IHH.Melanocortin 3 receptor (MC3R) is a permissive signal expressed by hypothalamic kisspeptin-neurokinin B-dynorphin (KNDY) neurons. It activates puberty through the leptin-proopiomelanocortin pathway in response to nutritional signaling<...