Molecular pathophysiology of the pituitary-gonadal axis

Abstract

Mutations of gonadotropin β subunits or gonadotropin receptors are involved in some reproductive diseases leading to alterations of pubertal maturation or infertility. Homozygous inactivation of LH results in absence of pubertal maturation and hypogonadism in the male whereas inactivation of FSH causes primary amenorrhea in females. Mutations of the gonadotropin receptors are classified into activating (the receptor is also active in the absence of the hormone: gain-of-function mutations) and inactivating types (the receptor is not properly processed and/or the hormone cannot bind: loss- of-function mutations). Activating mutations of the LH receptor have been described in familiar and sporadic forms of male-limited pseudoprecocious puberty, whereas they do not express any phenotype in females. The only activating mutation of the FSH receptor described to date was found in a hypophysectomized man who was fertile despite undetectable serum gonadotropin levels: the effects of constitutive FSH receptor activity occurring with normal pituitary function are not known. Homozygous inactivating mutations of the LH and FSH receptor invariably lead to amenorrhea in genotypically female subjects. In males, inactivation of the LH receptor in its more severe form results in a clinical picture similar to the syndrome of complete androgen resistance, but milder forms of hypoandrogenization have been described as well. The clinical consequences of homozygous inactivation of the FSH receptor in males are associated with subfertility. Finally, polymorphic variants of both the gonadotropin LH and the FSH receptor are present in the normal population.