skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Combined Leydig cell and Sertoli cell dysfunction in 46,XX males lacking the sex determining region Y gene

Journal Article · · American Journal of Medical Genetics
;  [1];  [2]
  1. Texas Tech Univ. Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX (United States)
  2. Johns Hopkins Univ. School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD (United States); and others

We have evaluated 3 individuals with a rare form of 46,XX sex reversal. All of them had ambiguous external genitalia and mixed wolffian and muellerian structures, indicating both Leydig cell and Sertoli cell dysfunction, similar to that of patients with true hermaphroditism. However, gonadal tissue was not ovotesticular but testicular with varying degrees of dysgenesis. SRY sequences were absent in genomic DNA from peripheral leukocytes in all 3 subjects. Y centromere sequences were also absent, indicating that testis development did not occur because of a low level mosaicism of Y-bearing cells. The subjects in this report demonstrate that there is a continuum in the extent of the testis determination in SRY-negative 46,XX sex reversal, ranging from nearly normal to minimal testicular development. 20 refs.

Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
OSTI ID:
105210
Journal Information:
American Journal of Medical Genetics, Vol. 57, Issue 3; Other Information: PBD: 3 Jul 1995
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English