Context:Primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI) is a life-threatening condition that is often due to monogenic causes in children. Although congenital adrenal hyperplasia occurs commonly, several other important molecular causes have been reported, often with overlapping clinical and biochemical features. The relative prevalence of these conditions is not known, but making a specific diagnosis can have important implications for management.Objective:The objective of the study was to investigate the clinical and molecular genetic characteristics of a nationwide cohort of children with PAI of unknown etiology.Design:A structured questionnaire was used to evaluate clinical, biochemical, and imaging data. Genetic analysis was performed using Haloplex capture and next-generation sequencing. Patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, adrenoleukodystrophy, autoimmune adrenal insufficiency, or obvious syndromic PAI were excluded.Setting:The study was conducted in 19 tertiary pediatric endocrinology clinics.Patients:Ninety-five children (48 females, aged 0–18 y, eight familial) with PAI of unknown etiology participated in the study.Results:A genetic diagnosis was obtained in 77 patients (81%). The range of etiologies was as follows: MC2R (n = 25), NR0B1 (n = 12), STAR (n = 11), CYP11A1 (n = 9), MRAP (n = 9), NNT (n = 7), ABCD1 (n = 2), NR5A1 (n = 1), and AAAS (n = 1). Recurrent mutations occurred in several genes, such as c.560delT in MC2R, p.R451W in CYP11A1, and c.IVS3ds+1delG in MRAP. Several important clinical and molecular insights emerged.Conclusion:This is the largest nationwide study of the molecular genetics of childhood PAI undertaken. Achieving a molecular diagnosis in more than 80% of children has important translational impact for counseling families, presymptomatic diagnosis, personalized treatment (eg, mineralocorticoid replacement), predicting comorbidities (eg, neurological, puberty/fertility), and targeting clinical genetic testing in the future.

Signal peptide-CUB-EGF domain-containing protein 3 (SCUBE3) is a member of a small family of multifunctional cell surface-anchored glycoproteins functioning as co-receptors for a variety of growth factors. Here we report that biallelic inactivating variants in SCUBE3 have pleiotropic consequences on development and cause a previously unrecognized syndromic disorder. Eighteen affected individuals from nine unrelated families showed a consistent phenotype characterized by reduced growth, skeletal anomalies, distinctive craniofacial appearance, and dental anomalies. In vitro functional validation studies demonstrated a variable impact of disease-causing variants on transcript processing, protein secretion and function, and their dysregulating effect on bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling. We show that SCUBE3 acts as a BMP2/BMP4 co-receptor, recruits the BMP receptor complexes into raft microdomains, and positively modulates signaling possibly by augmenting the specific interactions between BMPs and BMP type I receptors. Scube3 -/mice showed craniofacial and dental defects, reduced body size and defective endochondral bone growth due to impaired BMP-mediated chondrogenesis and osteogenesis, recapitulating the human disorder. Our findings identify a human disease caused by defective function of a member of the SCUBE family, and link SCUBE3 to processes controlling growth, morphogenesis, and bone and teeth development through modulation of BMP signaling.

Idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH) can be divided into two major forms, normosmic IHH and Kallmann syndrome (KS). Genetic mutations are responsible for the majority of IHH. PLXNA1 has recently been implicated in the GnRH neuron migration and the etiology of KS. We aimed to investigate the prevalence and associated phenotypes of PLXNA1 variants in a large cohort of IHH patients. We screened the whole exome data of 215 IHH patients in a single center for causative PLXNA1 variants. Our studies showed eight novel (p.Arg836His, p.Lys1451Arg, p.Val287Met, p.Val536Ile, p.Ser1850Arg, p.Ile1701Val, p.Arg319Trp, and p.Pro485Leu) and two previously described (p.Arg528Trp and p.Gly720Glu) heterozygous PLXNA1 variants in nine affected individuals from seven unrelated families. Only three of nine patients were anosmic (KS) while the remaining patients showed normal olfactory function (nIHH). Seven of nine patients (77.7%) harbored additional one or two variants in other nIHH/KS‐associated genes, including PROKR2, IGSF10, HS6ST1, SEMA3E, CCDC141, FGFR1, NRP1, POLR3A, and SRA1. Our findings indicate that PLXNA1 variants cause not only anosmic but also normosmic IHH with a relatively high prevalence (3.9%). Heterozygous missense PLXNA1 variants appear to be involved together with other IHH gene variants in bringing about the IHH disease phenotype.

Physician recommendation is important in the influenza vaccination decision. Demographic factors and asthma control parameters had no influence on immunization uptake but parental beliefs and attitudes could be determinant. Greater effort is needed to increase influenza vaccination rates, in children with asthma.

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To the known phenotype of ACLSD (i.e. short stature, reduced serum levels of IGF-I and ALS, extremely low serum IGFBP-3 and disturbed ternary complex formation), we add reduced birth weight, head circumference and serum IGF-II.

Background Given the rarity of 11β-hydroxylase deficiency (11βOHD), there is a paucity of data about the differences in clinical and biochemical characteristics of classic (C-11βOHD) and non-classic 11βOHD (NC-11βOHD). Objective To characterize a multicenter pediatric cohort with 11βOHD. Method The clinical and biochemical characteristics were retrospectively retrieved. CYP11B1 gene sequencing was performed. Seventeen plasma steroids were quantified by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and compared to that of controls. Results 102 patients (C-11βOHD; n=92, NC-11βOHD; n=10) from 76 families (46,XX; n=53) had biallelic CYP11B1 mutations (novel 9 out of 30). Five 46,XX patients (10%) were raised as males. Nineteen patients (19%) had initially been misdiagnosed with 21-hydroxylase deficiency. Female adult height was 152 cm (-1.85SDS) and male 160.4 cm (-2.56SDS).None of the NC-11βOHD girls had ambiguous genitalia (C-11βOHD 100%) and none of the NC-11βOHD patients were hypertensive (C-11βOHD 50%). Compared to NC-11βOHD, C-11βOHD patients were diagnosed earlier (1.33 vs. 6.9 years, p<0.0001), had higher bone age-to-chronological age (p=0.04) and lower adult height (-2.46 vs. -1.32SDS, p=0.05). The concentrations of 11-oxygenated androgens and 21-deoxycortisol were low in all patients. The baseline ACTH and stimulated cortisol were normal in NC-11βOHD. Baseline cortisol, cortisone, 11-deoxycortisol, 11-deoxycorticosterone and corticosterone concentrations, and 11-deoxycortisol/cortisol, 11-deoxycorticosterone/cortisol and androstenedione/cortisol ratios were higher in C-11βOHD than NC-11βOHD patients (p<0.05). The 11-deoxycortisol/cortisol ratio >2.2, <1.5 and <0.1 had 100% specificity to segregate C-11βOHD, NC-11βOHD and control groups. Conclusion NC-11βOHD can escape from clinical attention due to relatively mild clinical presentation. However, steroid profiles enable the diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and subtyping of 11βOHD.

17-β -Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 3 (17 β HSD-3) converts Δ 4 androstenedione (A) to testosterone (T) in the testes. This enzyme plays a key role in androgen synthesis and it is essential for normal fetal development of male genitalia. 17 β HSD-3 defi ciency is a rare cause of 46,XY disorders of sexual development. Here, we report a 16-year-old 46,XY patient with 17 β HSD-3 defi ciency raised as a female and signifi cantly virilized in puberty. A homozygous 7 base pair deletion on exon 10 was determined in HSD17B3 gene (c.777-783del_GATAACC). Our patient had one of the very rare mutations, which was previously unencountered in Turkish patients with 17 β HSD type 3, and she is the second reported case with this deletion.