Research Information System
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL RESEARCH IN PEDIATRIC ENDOCRINOLOGY, vol.7, no.3, pp.249-252, 2015 (SCI-Expanded)
17-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 3 (17 beta-HSD3) is an important enzyme involved in the final steps of androgen synthesis and is required for the development of normal male external genitalia. 46, XY individuals with deficiency of this enzyme present a wide clinical spectrum from a female appearance of the external genitalia through ambiguous genitalia to a predominantly male genitalia with micropenis or hypospadias. This paper reports a one-year-old 46, XY patient with 17 beta-HSD3 deficiency who presented with female external genitalia and bilaterally palpable gonads in the inguinal region. The low T/Delta 4 ratio after human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) stimulation suggested 17 beta-HSD3 deficiency. A homozygous mutation, c.761_762delAG, was determined at the intron 9/exon 10 splice site of the HSD17B3 gene. To the best of our knowledge, this mutation has not been reported thus far, but its localization and type would imply a complete disruption of the 17 beta-HSD3 which may explain the phenotype of our patient.