ESPE Yearbook of Paediatric Endocrinology

Brief summary: In this in vivo study, Xia et al. demonstrate that AAV-mediated gene therapy recovers testosterone levels, restarts sexual development, restores spermatogenesis, and produces fertile offspring in a mouse model of Leydig cell failure (LCF).A null mutation in the gene encoding luteinizing hormone/choriogonadotrophin receptor (Lhcgr) causes a hereditary LCF in mice which is characterized by a reduction in testosterone levels...

Brief summary: This French retrospective observational study evaluated ovarian function, premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) and spontaneous pregnancy in 178 women who had undergone hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for leukemia before puberty; 116/178 had received total body irradiation (TBI) and 62 had received a busulfan-based conditioning regimen.Sixty percent of women needed pubertal induction; only 40% had spontaneous menarche and ha...

Brief summary: In this double-blind, randomized clinical trial conducted in 6 US centres, 88 children and adolescents (aged 7–17 years) with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes (T1D) were randomized to either once-daily oral verapamil or placebo, within 1 month from diagnosis. Treatment with verapamil led to better stimulated C-peptide secretion at 52 weeks post-diagnosis, with levels 30% higher compared to placebo.Verapamil is a calcium channel blocker...

Brief summary: Using in-depth multi-omics analyses of human type 1 diabetes (T1D) samples, the authors profiled gut microbial functional and metabolic alterations. The T1D microbiota showed decreased butyrate production and bile acid metabolism and increased lipopolysaccharide (LPS) biosynthesis. Fecal microbiota transplantation in animal models proved that T1D gut microflora is a causative factor in the regulation of glucose metabolism.The etiology of T...

Brief summary: This collaborative study identified 13 monoallelic rare loss-of-function (LoF) variants in the serotonin 2C receptor (HTR2C) gene in 19 unrelated individuals with hyperphagia, severe early-onset obesity, and some degree of maladaptive behaviour. The authors used exome sequencing in 2548 individuals with severe obesity and 1117 control individuals without obesity. They found that HTR2C variants cause monogenic obesity by demonstrating t...

Brief summary: MiTy Kids is a prospective cohort study of children who were exposed to metformin during pregnancy. At 24 months, no difference was observed between those exposed to metformin and a placebo group, in BMI trajectories, mean BMI Z-score, or mean sum of skinfolds. Among those exposed to metformin, the BMI was higher among males than females.Comment: Metformin is increasingly used during pregnancy in women with T2D, but data on its lo...

Eur J Endocrinol. 2021 Apr;184(4):575–585. doi: 10.1530/EJE-20-1030. PMID: 33606663.These authors examined the likelihood of remission of diabetes without pharmacological therapy in a retrospective analysis of 34 Italian patients with Transient neonatal diabetes (TNDM).TNDM is a type of neonatal diabetes that remits within the first a few months of life. It is most ...

Nat Med. 2021 Nov;27(11):1928-1940. doi: 10.1038/s41591-021-01502-7. PMID: 34663987.Brief Summary: This clinical study characterised the spectrum of novel diabetes phenotypes due to mutations in the Transcription factor One Cut Homeobox 1 (ONECUT1)/hepatocyte nuclear factor 6 (HNF6). The study uncovers novel forms of diabetes mellitus due to mutations in ONECUT1.<p cl...

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...

To read the full abstract: Nat Med 2020;26(4):485–497.More than 100 medical and scientific organizations supported this international consensus statement, which describes impressively how unscientific public narratives of obesity cause weight stigma and stimulates discrimination of obese people. Consequently, the statement calls for strong policies and legislation to prevent weight-bas...