Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome at Prepuberty: Marked Loss of Spermatogonial Cells at Early Childhood and Presence of Gonocytes up to Puberty.

Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is a hereditary condition in patients with a 46,XY karyotype in which loss-of-function mutations of the androgen receptor (AR) gene are responsible for defects in virilization. The aim of this study was to investigate the consequences of the lack of AR activity on germ cell survival and the degree of testicular development reached by these patients by analyzing gonadal tissue from patients with AIS prior to Sertoli cell maturation at puberty. Twenty-three gonads from 13 patients with AIS were assessed and compared to 18 testes from 17 subjects without endocrine disorders.

Three novel IGF1R mutations in microcephalic patients with prenatal and postnatal growth impairment.

Background: IGF1R gene mutations have been associated with varying degrees of intrauterine and postnatal growth retardation, and microcephaly.

Objective: To identify and characterize IGF1R gene variations in a cohort of 28 Argentinean children suspected of having IGF-1 insensitivity, who were selected on the basis of the association of pre/postnatal growth failure and microcephaly.

Methods: The coding sequence and flanking intronic regions of IGF1R gene were amplified and directly sequenced.

Preserved fertility in a patient with a 46,XY disorder of sex development due to a new heterozygous mutation in the NR5A1/SF-1 gene: evidence of 46,XY and 46,XX gonadal dysgenesis phenotype variability in multiple members of an affected kindred.

In humans, steroidogenic factor 1 (NR5A1/SF-1) mutations have been reported to cause gonadal dysgenesis, with or without adrenal failure, in both 46,XY and 46,XX individuals. We have previously reported extreme within-family variability in affected 46,XY patients. Even though low ovarian reserve with preserved fertility has been reported in females harboring NR5A1 gene mutations, fertility has only been observed in one reported case in affected 46,XY individuals.

Three new SF-1 (NR5A1) gene mutations in two unrelated families with multiple affected members: within-family variability in 46,XY subjects and low ovarian reserve in fertile 46,XX subjects.

Background: Three novel heterozygous SF-1 gene mutations affecting multiple members of two unrelated families with a history of 46,XY disorders of sex development (DSD) and 46,XX ovarian insufficiency are described.

Methods: clinical and mutational analysis of the SF-1 gene in 9 subjects of two families.

Results: family 1 had 2 affected 46,XY DSD subjects.

Two novel mutations of the TSH-beta subunit gene underlying congenital central hypothyroidism undetectable in neonatal TSH screening.

Context: Patients with TSH-beta subunit defects and congenital hypothyroidism are missed by TSH-based neonatal screening.

Objective: Our objective was to report the molecular consequences of a novel splice-junction mutation and a novel missense mutation in the TSH-beta subunit gene found in two patients with congenital central hypothyroidism and conventional treatment-resistant anemia.

Results: Patient 1 had a homozygous G to A nucleotide change at the 5' donor splice site of exon/intron 2.