Ovotesticular Syndrome | |
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Other names | Ovotesticular disorder, OT-DSD |
Specialty | Obstetrics and gynaecology, endocrinology |
Ovotesticular syndrome (also known as ovotesticular disorder or OT-DSD) is a rare congenital condition where an individual is born with both ovarian and testicular tissue. [1] [2] It is one of the rarest DSDs, with only 500 reported cases. [3] Commonly, one or both gonads is an ovotestis containing both types of tissue. [3] Although it is similar in some ways to mixed gonadal dysgenesis, the conditions can be distinguished histologically. [4]
In the past, ovotesticular syndrome was referred to as true hermaphroditism, which is considered outdated as of 2006. [5] The term "true hermaphroditism" was considered incredibly misleading by many medical organizations and by many advocacy groups, [6] [7] [8] [9] as hermaphroditism refers to a species that produces both sperm and ova, something that is impossible in humans. [10]
Studies on the limited amount of cases on ovotesticular syndrome shows the condition does not cause cognitive impairment. [13]
The first medical attempts to document cases appeared in the 16th century. Individuals with these conditions in the Late Middle Ages were looked down upon. [14]
There are several ways in which this may occur.
• Only 3 reports exist attributing specific cases of the condition to some form of duplication of the SOX9 gene; making this an incredibly rare cause. [17]
Note:The SRY gene has a 8 to 10% of showing up in those that are found to have ovotesticular syndrome. Due to the genetic makeup of an SRY gene, it implies that ovotesticular syndrome is more of a heterogeneous condition. [18]
It is documented to show up in 4 different variations. Those being Bilateral, Unilateral, Lateral, and Indeterminate. [19]
In ovotesticular syndrome, XX is the most common (55-80% of cases); most individuals with this form are SRY negative. [20]
Next most common are XX/XY (20-30% of cases) and XY (5-15% of cases), with the remainder being a variety of other chromosomal anomalies and mosaicisms. [21] [20]
Some degree of mosaicism is present in about 25%. [20] Encountered karyotypes include 46XX/46XY, or 46XX/47XXY or XX & XY with SRY mutations, mixed chromosomal anomalies or hormone deficiency/excess disorders, 47XXY. Less than 1% have XX/XY chimerism. [20]
Ovotesticular syndrome represents 5% of all sex disorder differentiations. [22]
The exact number of confirmed cases is uncertain, but by 1991 approximately 500 cases had been confirmed. [3]
It has also been estimated that more than 525 have been documented. [14] While it can appear anywhere in the world, and be reported or unreported, the greatest amounts reported of ovotesticular syndrome is from Africa and Europe. [23]
The gonad most likely to function is the ovary. [24] The ovotestes show evidence of ovulation in 50% of cases. [25] Spermatogenesis has only been observed in solitary testes and not in the testicular portions of ovotestes. [26] [25] According to a 1994 study, spermatogenesis has only been proven in two cases. [27] In one of the two cases, a phenotypically male individual with XX,46/XY,46 mixture had fathered a child. [28] It has been estimated that 80% of cases could be fertile as females with the right surgeries. [14]
There are extremely rare cases of fertility in humans with ovotesticular syndrome. [27] [29]
In 1994, a study on 283 cases found 21 pregnancies from 10 individuals with ovotesticular syndrome, while one allegedly fathered a child. [27]
As of 2010, there have been at least 11 reported cases of fertility in humans with ovotesticular syndrome in the scientific literature, [4] with one case of a person with XY-predominant (96%) mosaic giving birth. [30] All known offspring have been male. [31] There has been at least one case of an individual being fertile as a male. [28]
There is a hypothetical scenario, in which it could be possible for a human to self-fertilize. [32] If a human chimera is formed from a male and female zygote fusing into a single embryo, giving an individual functional gonadal tissue of both types, such self-fertilization is feasible. Indeed, it is known to occur in non-human species where hermaphroditic animals are common [33] and has been observed in a rabbit. [34] However, no such case of functional self-fertilization or "true bi-sexuality" has been documented in humans. [26] [22]
Having Ovotesticular syndrome of sexual development can make one inadmissible for service in the United States Armed Forces. [35]
The U.S. legal case of M.C. v. Aaronson, advanced by intersex civil society organization interACT with the Southern Poverty Law Center, was brought before the courts in 2013. [36] [37] [38] [39] The child in the case was born in December 2004 with ovotestes, initially determined as male, but subsequently assigned female and placed in the care of South Carolina Department of Social Services in February 2005. [40] Physicians responsible for M.C. initially concluded that surgery was not urgent or necessary and M.C. had potential to identify as male or female, but, in April 2006, M.C. was subjected to feminizing medical interventions. [40] According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, "The reconstruction of female genitalia was more readily performed than the reconstruction of male genitalia, so ambiguous individuals often were made to be female." [41] He was adopted in December 2006. M.C. identified as male at the time the case was brought, at age eight. The defendant in the case, Dr. Ian Aaronson, had written in 2001 that "feminizing genitoplasty on an infant who might eventually identify herself as a boy would be catastrophic". [42] [40]
The defendants sought to dismiss the case and seek a defense of qualified immunity, but these were denied by the District Court for the District of South Carolina. In January 2015, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed this decision and dismissed the complaint, stating that, it did not "mean to diminish the severe harm that M.C. claims to have suffered" but that in 2006 it was not clear that there was precedent that the surgery on a sixteen-month-old violated an established constitutional right. [43] The Court did not rule on whether or not the surgery violated M.C.'s constitutional rights. [44]
State suits were subsequently filed. [43] In July 2017, it was reported that the case had been settled out of court by the Medical University of South Carolina for $440,000. The university denied negligence, but agreed to a "compromise" settlement to avoid "costs of litigation." [45]
Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is a condition involving the inability to respond to androgens, typically due to androgen receptor dysfunction.
A gonad, sex gland, or reproductive gland is a mixed gland that produces the gametes and sex hormones of an organism. Female reproductive cells are egg cells, and male reproductive cells are sperm. The male gonad, the testicle, produces sperm in the form of spermatozoa. The female gonad, the ovary, produces egg cells. Both of these gametes are haploid cells. Some hermaphroditic animals have a type of gonad called an ovotestis.
XY complete gonadal dysgenesis, also known as Swyer syndrome, is a type of defect hypogonadism in a person whose karyotype is 46,XY. Though they typically have normal vulvas, the person has underdeveloped gonads, fibrous tissue termed "streak gonads", and if left untreated, will not experience puberty. The cause is a lack or inactivation of an SRY gene which is responsible for sexual differentiation. Pregnancy is often possible in Swyer syndrome with assisted reproductive technology. The phenotype is usually similar to Turner syndrome (45,X0) due to a lack of X inactivation. The typical medical treatment is hormone replacement therapy. The syndrome was named after Gerald Swyer, an endocrinologist based in London.
Mosaicism or genetic mosaicism is a condition in which a multicellular organism possesses more than one genetic line as the result of genetic mutation. This means that various genetic lines resulted from a single fertilized egg. Mosaicism is one of several possible causes of chimerism, wherein a single organism is composed of cells with more than one distinct genotype.
Sexual differentiation is the process of development of the sex differences between males and females from an undifferentiated zygote. Sex determination is often distinct from sex differentiation; sex determination is the designation for the development stage towards either male or female, while sex differentiation is the pathway towards the development of the phenotype.
Foekje Dillema was a Dutch track and field athlete. She competed in sprinting where she was a rival of Fanny Blankers-Koen. When she refused a sex verification test, she was banned from competition by the International Association of Athletics Federations in 1950. After her death, it was determined that she was an intersex person.
Sex-determining region Y protein (SRY), or testis-determining factor (TDF), is a DNA-binding protein encoded by the SRY gene that is responsible for the initiation of male sex determination in therian mammals. SRY is an intronless sex-determining gene on the Y chromosome. Mutations in this gene lead to a range of disorders of sex development with varying effects on an individual's phenotype and genotype.
XX male syndrome, also known as de la Chapelle syndrome, is a rare condition in which an individual with a 46,XX karyotype develops a male phenotype. Synonyms for XX male syndrome include 46,XX testicular difference of sex development
XX gonadal dysgenesis is a type of female hypogonadism in which the ovaries do not function to induce puberty in an otherwise normal girl whose karyotype is found to be 46,XX. With nonfunctional streak ovaries, she is low in estrogen levels (hypoestrogenic) and has high levels of FSH and LH. Estrogen and progesterone therapy is usually then commenced. Some cases are considered a severe version of premature ovarian failure where the ovaries fail before puberty.
Gonadal dysgenesis is classified as any congenital developmental disorder of the reproductive system characterized by a progressive loss of primordial germ cells on the developing gonads of an embryo. One type of gonadal dysgenesis is the development of functionless, fibrous tissue, termed streak gonads, instead of reproductive tissue. Streak gonads are a form of aplasia, resulting in hormonal failure that manifests as sexual infantism and infertility, with no initiation of puberty and secondary sex characteristics.
Partial androgen insensitivity syndrome (PAIS) is a condition that results in the partial inability of the cell to respond to androgens. It is an X linked recessive condition. The partial unresponsiveness of the cell to the presence of androgenic hormones impairs the masculinization of male genitalia in the developing fetus, as well as the development of male secondary sexual characteristics at puberty, but does not significantly impair female genital or sexual development. As such, the insensitivity to androgens is clinically significant only when it occurs in individuals with a Y chromosome. Clinical features include ambiguous genitalia at birth and primary amenhorrhoea with clitoromegaly with inguinal masses. Müllerian structures are not present in the individual.
Sexual differentiation in humans is the process of development of sex differences in humans. It is defined as the development of phenotypic structures consequent to the action of hormones produced following gonadal determination. Sexual differentiation includes development of different genitalia and the internal genital tracts and body hair plays a role in sex identification.
Pseudohermaphroditism is an outdated term for when an individuals gonads was mismatched with their internal reproductive system and/or external genitalia. The term was contrasted with "true hermaphroditism", a condition describing an individual with both female and male reproductive gonadal tissues. Associated conditions includes Persistent Müllerian duct syndrome and forms of androgen insensitivity syndrome.
Disorders of sex development (DSDs), also known as differences in sex development or variations in sex characteristics (VSC), are congenital conditions affecting the reproductive system, in which development of chromosomal, gonadal, or anatomical sex is atypical.
An ovotestis is a gonad with both testicular and ovarian aspects. In humans, ovotestes are an infrequent anatomical variation associated with gonadal dysgenesis. The only mammals where ovotestes are not symptomatic of a disorder are moles, wherein females possess ovotestes along with a masculinized clitoris. These ovotestes in nonpregnant female moles secrete eight times as much testosterone as the ovotestes of pregnant moles. In invertebrates that are normally hermaphroditic, such as most gastropods in the clade Eupulmonata, an ovotestis is a common feature of the reproductive anatomy.
A hermaphrodite is a sexually reproducing organism that produces both male and female gametes. Animal species in which individuals are either male or female are gonochoric, which is the opposite of hermaphroditic.
Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies".
46,XX/46,XY is a chimeric genetic condition characterized by the presence of some cells that express a 46,XX karyotype and some cells that express a 46,XY karyotype in a single human being. The cause of the condition lies in utero with the aggregation of two distinct blastocysts or zygotes into a single embryo, which subsequently leads to the development of a single individual with two distinct cell lines, instead of a pair of fraternal twins. 46,XX/46,XY chimeras are the result of the merging of two non-identical twins. This is not to be confused with mosaicism or hybridism, neither of which are chimeric conditions.
The (DoDI) 6130.03, 2018, section 5, 13f and 14m is the writing which bars persons with "true hermaphroditism", "pseudohermaphroditism" and "pure gonadal dysgenesis" from serving in the United States Armed Forces. The three are all intersex conditions and are as of now considered to be medically incompatible with military service in the United States. "DoDI" stands for "Department of Defense Instruction," the 6130.03 instruction concerns "Medical Standards for Appointment, Enlistment, or Induction in the Military Services" in the Armed Forces of the United States. Section 5 focuses on disqualifying conditions of the male and female reproductive system, on the female page the subheader 13 and paragraph f name true hermaphroditism, pseudohermaphroditism and pure gonadal dysgenesis specifically, and on the male page the subheader 14 and paragraph m also name exactly true hermaphroditism, pseudohermaphroditism and pure gonadal dysgenesis, respectively. There is no differentiation made between males and females with these conditions. Many doctors, medical professionals and intersex advocates find the terms hermaphroditism to be outdated and stigmatized, therefore it and its derivative words are seldom used in the 2000s, with the word hermaphrodite itself being considered a slur when used against a human.
A human chimera is a human with a subset of cells with a distinct genotype than other cells, that is, having genetic chimerism. In contrast, an individual where each cell contains genetic material from a human and an animal is called a human–animal hybrid, while an organism that contains a mixture of human and non-human cells would be a human-animal chimera.
The mythological term "hermaphrodite" implies that a person is both fully male and fully female. This is a physiologic impossibility. The words "hermaphrodite" and "pseudo-hermaphrodite" are stigmatizing and misleading words.
It is now considered pejorative and outdated, although a small number of intersex people have reclaimed the term.
Some intersex people have reclaimed this word for themselves, but it is usually considered a slur. There are many ways to have an intersex body, but it is not possible for one person to have both a fully developed penis and vagina.
In the past, the term hermaphrodite was widely applied in such cases, but humans are not hermaphroditic. In a truly hermaphroditic species, individuals have functional sets of male and female organs.