Children who experience early puberty or delayed puberty may be at risk of having shortened height as adults. They may also feel emotionally unprepared for the changes of puberty, and may feel self-conscious or experience social anxieties as a result.
To address this challenge, Boston Children’s researchers are trying to further the study of an important genetic player in pubertal timing: makorin ring finger protein 3 (Mkrn3). A recent study in the brains of mice led by Stephanie Roberts, MD, of the Division of Endocrinology, found that adding more copies of Mkrn3 in the brain during a time when this protein is typically low could delay puberty. It’s a promising finding that could someday lead to future treatment options for children experiencing puberty too soon or too late.
The study opened the door to another possibility: genetic variants in Mkrn3 could be an unrecognized cause of delayed puberty in children. Further research on that end is now being conducted with Yee-Ming Chan, MD, PhD, of the Division of Endocrinology.
