Growth and Growth Factors

Elena Inzaghi; Danilo Fintini; Stefano Cianfarani

doi:10.1530/ey.16.4

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ESPE Yearbook of Paediatric Endocrinology (2019) 16 4 | DOI: 10.1530/ey.16.4

ESPEYB16 4. Growth and Growth Factors (1) (1 abstracts)

4. Growth and Growth Factors

Elena Inzaghi ^a , Danilo Fintini ^a & Stefano Cianfarani ^a,

Author affiliations

^a D.P.U.O. ‘Bambino Gesù’ Children’s Hospital – University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’ Rome Italy. ^bDepartment of Women’s and Children’s Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden^aD.P.U.O. “Bambino Gesù” Children’s Hospital – University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy; ^bDepartment of Women’s and Children’s Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Address correspondence to: Stefano Cianfarani, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, P.zza S. Onofrio, 4, 00165, Roma, Italy. Tel.: +39 06 6859 3074 (Hosp.)/+39 06 72596178 (Lab.); Fax: +39 06 6859 2508 (Hosp.)/+39 06 72596172 (Lab.); E-mail: [email protected])

Preface: This selection of articles in the field of growth and growth factors is characterized by a number of papers unravelling novel pathophysiological mechanisms underlying some forms of severe short stature. Growth plate gene variants have been described in a high proportion of children with severe familial short stature and/or born small for gestational age. Besides, some studies have enriched the knowledge of IGF system physiology showing the key role of IGF-1 receptor in health and life span, the involvement of IGF-I and its receptor in the development and maintenance of non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases and the capacity of IGF-II to modulate the innate immune memory of macrophages. Promising clinical trials have been published in the last year reporting the short-term efficacy of GH therapy in patients with Temple syndrome, the effectiveness of GH in improving mental and motor development in young children with Prader-Willi syndrome, the effect of GH treatment on growth of children with mutations of IGF-I receptor, the impact of combined GH/GnRH analogs on adult height of children with idiopathic short stature and of rhIGF-I/rhIGFBP-3 administration on the health outcomes of very preterm infants. We aimed to provide a balanced mixture of clinical practice papers and food for thought reports paving the way for further understanding of the fascinating physiology of growth and growth factors.