Deletion of the dosage sensitive gene
NR0B1 encoding
DAX1 on chromosome Xp21.2 results in congenital adrenal hypoplasia (AHC), whereas
NR0B1 duplication in 46,XY individuals leads to gonadal dysgenesis and a female phenotype. We describe a 21-year-old 46,XY female
manifesting primary amenorrhea, a small immature uterus, gonadal dysgenesis, and notably absent adrenal insufficiency with
a submicroscopic (257 kb) deletion upstream of
NR0B1. We hypothesize that loss of regulatory sequences may have resulted in position effect up-regulation of DAX1 expression,
consistent with phenotypic consequences of
NR0B1 duplication. We propose that this genomic region and by extension those surrounding the dosage sensitive
SRY,
SOX9,
SF1, and
WNT-4 genes, should be examined for copy-number variation in patients with sex reversal.
M. Smyk and J. S. Berg contributed equally to this work.