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Free access

Compensatory function of the remaining testis is dissociated in boys and adolescents with monorchidism

Romina P Grinspon, Carolina Habib, Patricia Bedecarrás, Silvia Gottlieb, and Rodolfo A Rey

Objective

Compensatory hypertrophy has been classically described in patients with monorchidism. However, it remains unclear whether there is a functional compensatory activity of the different cell populations. Our aim was to assess the functional capacity of the solitary testis in monorchid males from infancy through puberty in order to determine whether the remaining gonad is capable of compensating the functional activity of Sertoli and Leydig cells of the absent gonad.

Design

In a retrospective, cross-sectional, analytical study performed at a tertiary paediatric public hospital, we included 89 boys with monorchidism and 358 healthy controls, aged 6 months–18 years. Testicular volume and circulating levels of reproductive hormones were compared between patients with monorchidism and normal boys. Serum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) and FSH were used as biomarkers of the functional mass of prepubertal Sertoli cells, whereas serum testosterone and LH were used as biomarkers of Leydig cells.

Results

In the vast majority of the cases, the testicular volume of monorchid boys was smaller than the sum of the volume of both testes of healthy controls. Serum AMH was lower and FSH was higher in patients with monorchidism than in controls aged <3 and >13 years. Serum testosterone and LH did not differ significantly between patients and controls.

Conclusion

In boys and adolescents with monorchidism, there is a dissociated capacity of the remaining testis to compensate for the absence of the other gonad: while Leydig cell function is largely compensated, Sertoli cell proliferation and function was lower than in controls.

Restricted access

NEUE METHODISCHE MÖGLICHKEITEN ZUR KLINISCHEN FUNKTIONSDIAGNOSTIK DER NEBENNIERENRINDE

H. Gerdes and W. Teller

ABSTRACT

The results are reported of routine determinations of free C21-steroids in plasma and urine by a method which involved thin layer and gas liquid chromatography. The following steroids were simultaneously determined: Cortisol, cortisone, 6β-hydroxycortisol and -cortisone, 20-hydroxycortisol and -cortisone, tetrahydrocortisol and -cortisone, and 11-deoxycortisol (Reichstein S). The specificity, reproducibility and accuracy are discussed in detail. The overall recoveries of the procedure were examined by the addition of 1,2-3H-cortisol and 1,2-3H-cortisone prior to extraction. They ranged between 50 and 60 per cent.

The method was clinically applied to various tests of adrenal cortical function and its pituitary regulation (e. g. ACTH test, dexamethasone suppression, metopirone test). The simultaneous determination in plasma and urine of a number of C21-steroid-hormones including their metabolites proved to yield valuable information about adrenal cortical function and C21-steroid metabolism. In the paediatric age group the metopirone test measuring 11-deoxycortisol in plasma rather than its tetrahydro derivative in urine was particularly useful since it avoided unpleasant 24 h-urine collections in young children.

Free access

Management of children with idiopathic short stature

Leo Dunkel

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of biosynthetic GH for the treatment of children with idiopathic short stature (ISS) in the US in 2003. Primarily, the decision was based on two studies: a randomized placebo-controlled study and a dose–response study, both demonstrating an increase in adult height over the predicted height at baseline and over placebo-treated controls by an average of 4–7 cm. Despite these data and FDA approval of GH treatment for ISS, there is still a significant controversy among paediatric endocrinologists about how, and to what extent, GH should be used in this indication. GH is clearly efficacious in several growth disorders and has the potential to alleviate debilitating short stature. However, it has been questioned whether ISS should be considered a condition warranting pharmacological treatment, whether the degree of morbidity of untreated ISS is clinically significant, and whether improved psychosocial status or well-being is achieved through GH treatment and height gain. The benefits must outweigh treatment costs and risks to justify GH treatment in ISS. The safety of GH treatment in ISS has been the main subject in two recent articles from pharmaceutical companies that conducted the pioneering studies mentioned earlier. No new safety concerns were observed in the ISS populations, but there were some limitations in study designs that prevent clinicians, their patients and families from ‘resting assured’. Studies addressing these controversial issues are needed before the widespread use of GH treatment in ISS is warranted.

Free access

Clinical and genetic characteristics in patients under 30 years with sporadic pituitary adenomas

Idoia Martínez de LaPiscina, Nancy Portillo Najera, Itxaso Rica, Sonia Gaztambide, Susan M Webb, Alicia Santos, Maria Dolores Moure, Miguel Paja Fano, Maria Isabel Hernandez, Maria Jesús Chueca-Guindelain, Laura Cristina Hernández-Ramírez, Alfonso Soto, Nuria Valdés, and Luis Castaño

Objective

Pituitary adenomas (PA) are rare in young patients, and additional studies are needed to fully understand their pathogenesis in this population. We describe the clinical and genetic characteristics of apparently sporadic PA in a cohort of young patients.

Design

Clinical and molecular analysis of 235 patients (age ≤ 30 years) with PA. Clinicians from several Spanish and Chilean hospitals provided data.

Methods

Genetic screening was performed via next-generation sequencing and comparative genomic hybridization array. Clinical variables were compared among paediatric, adolescent (<19 years) and young adults’ (≥19–30 years) cohorts and types of adenomas. Phenotype–genotype associations were examined.

Results

Among the total cohort, mean age was 17.3 years. Local mass effect symptoms were present in 22.0%, and prolactinomas were the most frequent (44.7%). Disease-causing germline variants were identified in 22 individuals (9.3%), more exactly in 13.1 and 4.7% of the populations aged between 0–19 and 19–30 years, respectively; genetically positive patients were younger at diagnosis and had larger tumour size. Healthy family carriers were also identified.

Conclusions

Variants in genes associated with syndromic forms of PAs were detected in a large cohort of apparently sporadic pituitary tumours. We have identified novel variants in well-known genes and set the possibility of incomplete disease penetrance in carriers of MEN1 alterations or a limited clinical expression of the syndrome. Despite the low penetrance observed, screening of AIP and MEN1 variants in young patients and relatives is of clinical value.

Open access

Genetic evaluation supports differential diagnosis in adolescent patients with delayed puberty

Tansit Saengkaew, Heena R Patel, Kausik Banerjee, Gary Butler, Mehul T Dattani, Michael McGuigan, Helen L Storr, Ruben H Willemsen, Leo Dunkel, and Sasha R Howard

Context

Pubertal delay can be the clinical presentation of both idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH) and self-limited delayed puberty (SLDP). Distinction between these conditions is a common but important diagnostic challenge in adolescents.

Objective

To assess whether gene panel testing can assist with clinical differential diagnosis and to allow accurate and timely management of delayed puberty patients.

Design

Retrospective study.

Methods

Patients presenting with delayed puberty to UK Paediatric services, followed up to final diagnosis, were included. Whole-exome sequencing was analysed using a virtual panel of genes previously reported to cause either IHH or SLDP to identify rarely predicted deleterious variants. Deleterious variants were verified by in silico prediction tools. The correlation between clinical and genotype diagnosis was analysed.

Results

Forty-six patients were included, 54% with a final clinical diagnosis of SLDP and 46% with IHH. Red flags signs of IHH were present in only three patients. Fifteen predicted deleterious variants in 12 genes were identified in 33% of the cohort, with most inherited in a heterozygous manner. A fair correlation between final clinical diagnosis and genotypic diagnosis was found. Panel testing was able to confirm a diagnosis of IHH in patients with pubertal delay. Genetic analysis identified three patients with IHH that had been previously diagnosed as SLDP.

Conclusion

This study supports the use of targeted exome sequencing in the clinical setting to aid the differential diagnosis between IHH and SLDP in adolescents presenting with pubertal delay. Genetic evaluation thus facilitates earlier and more precise diagnosis, allowing clinicians to direct treatment appropriately.

Free access

Screening for mutations in transcription factors in a Czech cohort of 170 patients with congenital and early-onset hypothyroidism: identification of a novel PAX8 mutation in dominantly inherited early-onset non-autoimmune hypothyroidism

Eva Al Taji, Heike Biebermann, Zdeňka Límanová, Olga Hníková, Jaroslav Zikmund, Christof Dame, Annette Grüters, Jan Lebl, and Heiko Krude

Objective: Mutations in NKX2.1, NKX2.5, FOXE1 and PAX8 genes, encoding for transcription factors involved in the development of the thyroid gland, have been identified in a minority of patients with syndromic and non-syndromic congenital hypothyroidism (CH).

Design: In a phenotype-selected cohort of 170 Czech paediatric and adolescent patients with non-goitre CH, including thyroid dysgenesis, or non-goitre early-onset hypothyroidism, PAX8, NKX2.1, NKX2.5, FOXE1 and HHEX genes were analysed for mutations.

Methods: NKX2.1, NKX2.5, FOXE1 and HHEX genes were directly sequenced in patients with syndromic CH. PAX8 mutational screening was performed in all 170 patients by single-stranded conformation polymorphism, followed by direct sequencing of samples with abnormal findings. The R52P PAX8 mutation was functionally characterized by DNA binding studies.

Results: We identified a novel PAX8 mutation R52P, dominantly inherited in a three-generation pedigree and leading to non-congenital, early-onset, non-goitre, non-autoimmune hypothyroidism with gradual postnatal regression of the thyroid size and function. The R52P PAX8 mutation results in the substitution of a highly conserved residue of the DNA-binding domain with a loss-of-function effect. Conclusions: The very low frequency of genetic defects in a population-based cohort of children affected by non-goitre congenital and early-onset hypothyroidism, even in a phenotype-focussed screening study, suggests the pathogenetic role of either non-classic genetic mechanisms or the involvement of genes unknown so far. Identification of a novel PAX8 mutation in a particular variant of non-congenital early-onset hypothyroidism indicates a key function of PAX8 in the postnatal growth and functional maintenance of the thyroid gland.

Free access

Requirement for age-specific peak cortisol responses to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia in children

Michael J O'Grady, Conor Hensey, Miriam Fallon, Hilary Hoey, Nuala Murphy, Colm Costigan, and Declan Cody

Objective

Based on adult data, a peak cortisol response ≥500 nmol/l to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia constitutes a normal. Age-specific reference ranges for basal morning cortisol have been developed for clinical use in the paediatric population. Such reference ranges are not clearly established for peak cortisol responses to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia despite limited data suggesting an effect of age on peak cortisol. The aims of this study were to assess factors affecting the cortisol response to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia in children and to determine whether the peak cortisol response was related to age.

Design

The present study was a retrospective cohort study.

Methods

Retrospective analysis of children and adolescents aged ≤18 years undergoing the insulin tolerance test with adequate hypoglycaemia was undertaken. Patients with hypopituitarism or severe hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis impairment (peak cortisol value <400 nmol/l) or using systemic glucocorticoids were excluded.

Results

Two hundred and twenty-three tests were analysed. Peak cortisol responses ≥500 nmol/l occurred in 183 (82%) tests. Age was negatively associated with peak cortisol responses (r=−0.15, P=0.03). A peak cortisol response <500 nmol/l was significantly less common in patients aged <12 years (9/97 (9%) vs 31/126 (25%); P=0.004). In children aged <12 years, the median (5th–95th centiles) peak cortisol values were 610 (480–806) nmol/l compared with 574 (442–789) nmol/l in children aged ≥12 years (P<0.004). Similarly, median cortisol increment was significantly higher in younger patients (301 nmol/l compared with 226 nmol/l (P=0.0004)).

Conclusions

Use of a single peak cortisol threshold in children of all ages is not appropriate and will result in overdiagnosis of adrenal insufficiency in adolescents.

Free access

Presenting features and molecular genetics of primary hyperparathyroidism in the paediatric population

Yasmine El Allali, Coralie Hermetet, Justine Bacchetta, Cyril Amouroux, Anya Rothenbuhler, Valérie Porquet-Bordes, Marie-Alexandrine Champigny, Sabine Baron, Pascal Barat, Hélène Bony-Trifunovic, Karine Bourdet, Kanetee Busiah, Maryse Cartigny-Maciejewski, Florence Compain, Régis Coutant, Jessica Amsellem-Jager, Marc De Kerdanet, Nathalie Magontier, Brigitte Mignot, Odile Richard, Sylvie Rossignol, Sylvie Soskin, Aurélie Berot, Catherine Naud-Saudreau, Jean-Pierre Salles, Agnès Linglart, Thomas Edouard, and Anne Lienhardt-Roussie

Aim

To describe the presenting features and molecular genetics of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) in the paediatric population.

Methods

Retrospective study of 63 children diagnosed with primary PHPT from 1998 to 2018.

Results

Compared to older children, infants were often asymptomatic (54% vs 15%, P = 0.002) with a milder form of PHPT. When symptomatic, children and adolescents mostly presented with non-specific complaints such as asthenia, depression, weight loss, vomiting or abdominal pain. A genetic cause of PHPT was identified in about half of this cohort (52%). The infancy period was almost exclusively associated with mutation in genes involved in the calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) signalling pathway (i.e. CaSR and AP2S1 genes, ‘CaSR group’; 94% of infants with mutations) whereas childhood and adolescence were associated with mutation in genes involved in parathyroid cell proliferation (i.e. MEN1, CDC73, CDKN1B and RET genes, ‘cell proliferation group’; 69% of children and adolescents with mutations). Although serum calcium levels did not differ between the two groups (P = 0.785), serum PTH levels and the urinary calcium/creatinine ratio were significantly higher in ‘cell proliferation group’ patients compared to those in the ‘CaSR group’ (P = 0.001 and 0.028, respectively).

Conclusion

Although far less common than in adults, PHPT can develop in children and is associated with significant morbidity. Consequently, this diagnosis should be considered in children with non-specific complaints and lead to monitoring of mineral homeostasis parameters. A genetic cause of PHPT can be identified in about half of these patients.

Free access

The relationship between cortisol and IGF-I influences metabolic alteration in pediatric overweight and obesity

Roberta Ricotti, Arianna Solito, Elena Mariotti Zani, Marina Caputo, Giulia Genoni, Francesco Barone-Adesi, Valentina Mancioppi, Emanuela Agosti, Gianluca Aimaretti, Simonetta Bellone, and Flavia Prodam

Background/objective

Data on metabolic impairments in Cushing’s syndrome and GH deficiency all suggest that the relationship between cortisol and GH/IGF-I axis in obesity may have a role in the related diseases. However, studies focusing only on one of these hormones are often controversial in paediatrics. We aimed to explore the simultaneous relationship between cortisol and IGF-I with the metabolic alterations in paediatric obesity.

Subjects/methods

Retrospective cross-sectional study in a tertiary care center. We recruited 876 (441 males and 435 females) overweight and obese children and adolescents. A complete clinical and biochemical evaluation including OGTT was performed. Cortisol and IGF-I SDS were divided in quartiles and then crossed to explore the reciprocal influence of high/high, low/low, and high/low levels of each one on the metabolic alterations of obesity.

Results

Subjects in the higher quartiles of IGF-I-SDS and cortisol had an increased risk of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, high levels of triglycerides, and reduced HDL cholesterol. Diversely, lower IGF-I-SDS quartiles were associated with higher blood glucose, insulin, insulin resistance, and reduced insulin sensitivity levels with the rise of cortisol quartiles.

Conclusions

We observed that apart from glucose metabolism that is associated with low IGF-I and high cortisol levels, the other parameters known to be associated with increased cardiovascular risk were related to high levels of both IGF-I and cortisol, even if within normal range. Cortisol and IGF-I play a complex role in the comorbidities of obesity, and the evaluation of both variables could clarify some of the discordant results.

Free access

Controversies in the evolution of paediatric-adolescent varicocele: clinical, biochemical and histological studies

HL Fideleff, HR Boquete, MG Suarez, GF Ruibal, PG Sobrado, M Azaretsky, AB Pujol, AM Sequera, J Giuseppucci, and R Ponzio

OBJECTIVE: To study hormonal and histological parameters of paediatric-adolescent varicocele in order to know certain aspects of its natural history, in an attempt to find prognostic markers of testicular damage. DESIGN AND METHODS: In a prospective cross-sectional study, we evaluated 93 children and adolescents with left unilateral varicocele and 29 healthy males as control group. All of them were classified according to Tanner stage. Scrotal Doppler in both testes and GnRH and human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) tests were performed in all subjects. Surgery was performed in 28 patients and homolateral testicular biopsy in 18. RESULTS: Hormonal measurements of patients with varicocele were compared with a control group for each Tanner stage. Testicular biopsy specimens were analysed by light and electron microscopy. We only observed statistical differences in Tanner III patients in basal FSH (median and range) controls=1.70 (1.10-3.70) IU/l vs varicocele=4.20 (1.00-7.50) IU/l, P<0.05 and in Tanner IV patients in LH post-GnRH: controls=11.0 (7.50-15.0) IU/l vs varicocele=18.0 (5.10-29.0) IU/l, P<0.05 and in testosterone post-hCG: controls=9.50 (7.7-10.0) ng/ml vs varicocele=12.0 (6.2-23.0) ng/ml, P<0.01. No correlation was found between the various clinical grades of varicocele and hormonal measurements for each Tanner stage. No statistically significant differences were found between pre- and post-operative hormonal findings, either in basal levels or in maximal responses. On the other hand, no morphological abnormalities were observed by electron microscopy in germ cells, tubular wall and interstice. CONCLUSIONS: There appears to be no reliable biochemical marker in children and adolescents that may predict impaired testicular function. A significant size discrepancy between both testes, testicular pain and a hyperresponse to GnRH stimulation should continue to be, for the time being, the indications for surgery.