Prenatal diagnosis of androgen insensitivity syndrome.

Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) (OMIM 300068) is an X-linked recessive genetic disorder with an XY karyotype that is caused by androgen receptor (AR) defects. We report a prenatal diagnosis case with clinical and molecular findings. The fetal phenotype was female, moreover the autopsy revealed the presence of abdominal testes confirmed by histopathological examination. The AR gene molecular analysis performed on the fetal DNA showed the presence of a c. 2493C>T change in exon 4. The single nucleotide change resulted in a Q711X amino acid substitution within the AR ligand-binding domain of the protein that has never been described before in the literature. AIS is an important consideration in pregnancies that show sex discordance in ultrasonography and karyotype results with the opportunity to perform molecular analysis of the AR gene in order to confirm the diagnosis. Copyright (C) 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel