ClinVar

Description

The novel DAX1 stop-loss variant: c.1411T>C preceded the rare prolonged precocious puberty and primary adrenal insufficiency symptoms in the adrenal hypoplasia congenital boy. The precocious puberty symptoms recorded since at the boy's age of 5.9 yrs lasted till 15.1 yrs of age. This clinical inference contradicts the earlier case studies J.H.D. Bassett et al., 1999 and Okuhara et al., 2008 in which the adrenal hypoplasia congenital boys developed precocious puberty between 17 years to 18 years of age. Moreover, at 15.1 yrs of age: the boy showed the male stereotype characteristics of an adult-hood with the increased serum concentrations of total testosterone; luteinising hormones; follicle-stimulating hormones; adrenocorticotropic hormones; and the hyper-activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal/adrenal axis diagnosed at the pre-pubertal stage. The stop-loss variant: c.1411T>C/p.X471Q by adding extra 18 amino acids at the C terminal domain of each chain A and chain B monomers of DAX1 homodimer is more likely to disturb the homodimer orientation. Indeed, this could effectively hinder the DAX1 functional interaction with the steroidogenic factor 1 (SF1) protein crucial in regulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal/adrenal axis responses via neuronal nitric oxide synthetase activation. This mechanistic hindrance paved by the disturbed DAX1-SF1 protein interactions could precede the prolonged precocious puberty in the adrenal hypoplasia congenital boy.