Endocrine Abstracts

Congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH) is a pathological condition characterised by lack of pubertal onset and must be differentiated from self-limited delayed puberty (SLDP). There is a significant overlap between these two conditions both in clinical and biochemical features, with current diagnostic approaches lacking sensitivity. Thus, paediatric endocrine clinicians are faced with difficulty in ascertaining the correct diagnosis in adolescence. The presence of cert...

Background: Homozygous mutations in STAT5B result in GH insensitivity and immune dysfunction. Heterozygous dominant negative mutations have not been described.Aims and objectives: To assess STAT5B sequence in children selected for a phenotype suggestive of Stat5b deficiency. To further characterize genomic STAT5B variants in two families.Methods: Selection of children from a tertiary Paediatric Endocrine ...

Introduction: Hyperparathyroidism (HPT) in children is rare with limited outcome measures post surgery.Methods: Retrospective case review of 26 (14M) children (<16 years) who underwent parathyroidectomies (PTx) between 1978 and 2011.Results: Twenty-six children (14M, 12F) included six neonates with neonatal severe HPT (NSHPT) and 20 older children with HPT (13 sporadic, 7 familial).All NSHPT neonates were...

Introduction: KAL1 is essential for GnRH neuronal migration and olfactory bulb development, and mutations within this gene have been implicated in 5% of Kallmann syndrome (KS) cases, a disorder characterized by the association of hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism with anosmia. It is the only identified X-linked form of the disorder and as a result only KS males had been screened for mutations until recently, when females exhibiting KS phenotypes were screened and subsequen...

Background and aim: The development of the pituitary gland is closely linked to this of the eyes and forebrain, as they all originate from the same embryonic origin, the anterior neural ridge. The constellation of symptoms leading to septo-optic dysplasia (SOD) is well established; other ophthalmic signs may be under-reported. The aim of the study was to define if patients with hypopituitarism present with eye abnormalities, which are distinct from SOD, and if this association...

Wnt/beta-catenin signalling pathway is required during embryonic development for normal cell proliferation, differentiation and for organ homeostasis in adulthood. Over-activation of this pathway has been implicated in human cancers such as colon or skin cancers. Here, we demonstrate that enhancement of the Wnt pathway in the embryonic Rathke’s pouch causes over-proliferation of progenitor cells and severe differentiation defects in the Pit1-lineage, which results ...

Background: SOX2 is a member of the SOX family of transcription factors (SRY-related high-mobility group (HMG) box). Heterozygous, de novo, loss-of-function mutations were initially reported in patients with bilateral anophthalmia/microphthalmia, developmental delay, male genital tract abnormalities, oesophageal atresia and sensorineural hearing loss. We have recently reported a number of SOX2 mutations in patients with anterior pituitary hypoplasia and hy...

Background: The most common cause of death in patients with Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia type 2 is medullary thyroid carcinoma. All patients with MEN2 develop this cancer and Prophylactic Thyroidectomy (PT) is recommended to prevent malignant transformation.Method: This study reviews our experience of treating children identified as carriers of a RET mutation diagnostic of MEN-2A. Data was collected by reviewing patient notes and hospital electronic data...

Background: SOX2 is a member of the SOX family of transcription factors (SRY-related high-mobility group (HMG) box). Heterozygous, de novo, loss-of-function mutations were initially reported in patients with bilateral anophthalmia/microphthalmia, developmental delay, male genital tract abnormalities, oesophageal atresia and sensorineural hearing loss. We have recently reported a number of SOX2 mutations in patients with anterior pituitary hypoplasia and hy...

Somatic activating mutations in BRAF, encoding B-Raf, have been described in tumours and recently craniopharyngiomas. Germline mutations in BRAF and other components of the RAS/MAPK pathway are found in RASopathies, whose features include endocrine deficiencies but not craniopharyngiomas. We report three BRAF mutations (two of which are novel) in four children with congenital hypopituitarism. To demonstrate the functional role of the three variants w...