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Endocrine Abstracts (2024) 99 EP638 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.99.EP638

1Biochemistry Unit, Department of Surgical, Medical and Molecular Pathology and Critical Care, Pisa, Italy; 2Stella Maris IRCCS, Calambrone, Italy; 3University of Bari, Department of Translational Biomedicine and Neuroscience, Bari, Italy; 4University of Bari, Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine and Ionian Area, Bari, Italy; 5University of Pisa


Introduction: Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common chronic disability in childhood, burden by motor, sensation, cognition, feeding and communication impairment. A serious concern in children with CP is bone/muscle health deterioration, which negatively impacts the already reduced quality of life (QoL). Irisin is a myokine secreted by contracting muscle, which mediates beneficial effects on several targets, including brain. The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate serum levels of irisin in children with PC compared to healthy matched controls, to understand if irisin could be considered a biomarker of disability.

Methods: n=39 consecutive young patients (aged 3-18) with CP were enrolled at Fondazione IRCCS Stella Maris (Pisa) between 2021 and 2023 and n=40 healthy children matched for age and gender, were enrolled in the same period at Paediatric Unit, University of Pisa. Serum samples were collected in all of them, stocked at -80°C at Biochemistry Laboratory, University of Pisa and sent to University of Bari for Irisin serum levels measurement.

Results: Serum levels of Irisin were statistically significantly lower in the CP group compared with healthy matched controls or Crl (10.8±2.4 vs 12.5±3.2 ng/ml, P=0.01) and this difference was even greater when considering subjects with irisin levels under the median value (CP 8.7±0.9 vs Crl 9.9±1.3 ng/ml, P=0.001). In the CP group there was not difference in irisin levels between females (n=12) and males (n=27) (11.1±3.1 vs 10.6±3.2 ng/ml, P=0.9). Younger patients (aged <11 years) showed the higher difference in irisin levels between CP and Crl subjects (P=0.004).

Conclusions: Irisin is a myokine, with potential protective effects on CNS. We observed for the first time that irisin is markedly decreased in young patients with CP compared with controls, suggesting a potential role as biomarker of disability. Moreover, further analysis will correlate irisin levels with clinical, biochemical, and morphological markers of muscle-bone health in these patients, to understand the role of irisin as marker or as therapeutical target.

Volume 99

26th European Congress of Endocrinology

Stockholm, Sweden
11 May 2024 - 14 May 2024

European Society of Endocrinology 

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