Complete XY gonadal dysgenesis and aspects of the SRY genotype and gonadal tumor formation

Abstract

XY gonadal dysgenesis can be classified as either complete or incomplete according to gonadal morphology. The disease is a sex-reversal disorder resulting from embryonic testicular regression sequences and is induced by mutations in the sex-determining region Y (SRY) gene. The incidence of SRY mutations is thought to be approximately 20%. As the disease is characterized by a frequent complication of gonadal tumors, patients are usually advised to undergo prophylactic gonadectomy. In this study, we searched for mutations in SRY open reading frames from three patients with the complete form of XY gonadal dysgenesis, and detected missense mutations in two patients. Combined with the results of our previous study, in which SRY abnormalities were also detected in two out of three complete-type patients, the final incidence of SRY abnormalities was 67% (four of six patients), which is much higher than previously thought. The incidence of gonadal tumor formation in patients with SRY abnormalities was 50% (two of four patients), which is similar to the result of a metanalysis of patients with SRY abnormalities that revealed an incidence of 52.5%. Therefore, it is possible that the lower incidences of SRY abnormalities previously reported were caused by the inclusion of patients with the incomplete form or other sex-reversal disorders. Moreover, our results suggest that clinicians should carefully examine patients with SRY abnormalities.