ESPE Yearbook of Paediatric Endocrinology

In Brief: This manuscript was prepared from presentations given at the ESPE New Inroads for Child Health (NICHe) conference held in May 2009 in Marstrand, Sweden. It reviewed the concept of plasticity in developmental programming and evidence for the role of epigenetic mechanisms. It became widely accepted as a leading reference on this topic with currently >750 citations in Google Scholar.Comment: Ze’ev Hochberg had a brilliant, creative mind. ...

Brief Summary:This study in mice shows that insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2), encoded by an imprinted gene and expressed by placental endocrine cells, is essential for the adaptive changes in maternal glucose and lipid metabolism during pregnancy to promote fetal growth. Failure of this adaptive program during pregnancy also resulted in metabolic dysfunction of offspring mice later in their life.IGF2 has been longer known to be involved in the regulat...