Background: Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a chronic disease characterized by an increased energy demand.Despite an improvement in nutritional status during the last decades, malnutrition remains a problem for many CF patients.Aim: To compare growth charts of Italian CF patients and normal subjects.Patients and Methods: We studied 892 CF patients aged 0-18 years (M 50.7%, mean age 9.2±6.4yrs) followed-up in 10 Italian Reference Centres.Height-for-Age percentile (HAP), Weight-for-Age percentile (WAP) and BMI were calculated in all patients and used to draw the correspondent growth charts in two sexes.We compared the course of 50th percentile (pc) in CF patients and normal subjects (CDC 2000).Results: HAP, WAP and BMI 50th pcs in CF patients were lower than normal subjects, in both sexes and at all ages considered.Conclusions: Our results show that Italian CF children have subnormal growth at all ages.Nutritional management is difficult for several clinical and psychosocial reasons but an early detection of malnutrition is essential for a better prognosis.

S19cells over-expressing NHERF1.These data suggest that NHERF1 participates in the organization of the actin cytoskeleton through activation of RhoA and ezrin.