We have analyzed the gene encoding SF1 (NR5A1) in a cohort of 27 patients with 46,XY disorders of sex development (DSD) from the German network of DSD.
To study the functional properties of six novel missense mutations of the NR5A1 gene encoding the steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1) identified in six patients with 46,XY disorders of sex development (DSD) and to describe their relative phenotype-genotype relationship.
Mutations identified by NR5A1 sequencing have been associated with disorders of sex development (DSD), ranging from sex reversal to severe hypospadias in 46,XY patients and premature ovarian failure (POF) in 46,XX patients.
A novel heterozygous mutation of steroidogenic factor-1 (SF-1/Ad4BP) gene (NR5A1) in a 46, XY disorders of sex development (DSD) patient without adrenal failure.
Heterozygous mutations of NR5A1, which encodes steroidogenic factor 1 (SF1), were identified in patients with 46,XY disorders of sex development (DSD) with normal adrenal function.
As NR5A1 mutations can cause a wide spectrum of DSD with relatively high frequency, the analysis of the NR5A1 gene by MLPA is quite important and should be extended to larger groups of patients.
Karyotyping was done and the patients were screened for underlying changes in SRY, desert hedgehog (DHH), DAX1 (NR0B1) and SF1 (NR5A1) genes, mutations in which are implicated in DSD.
Our results suggest that the broad phenotype in these heterozygous NR5A1 46,XY DSD subjects may well be explained by an oligogenic mode of inheritance, in which multiple hits, individually non-deleterious, may contribute to a DSD phenotype unique to each heterozygous SF-1/NR5A1 individual.