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A Novel Point Mutation in P450c17 (CYP17) Causing Combined 17-Hydroxylase/17,20-Lyase Deficiency

Center for Endocrinology (A.M.B., J.P.M.), William Harvey Research Institute, St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, Queen Mary, University of London, London EC1A 7BE, United Kingdom; Department of Clinical Biochemistry (N.F.T.), King’s College Hospital, London SE5 9RS, United Kingdom; Department of Medical Oncology (J.H.S., M.E.G., T.A.), Royal Marsden Hospital, London SW3 6JJ, United Kingdom; Institute of Child Health and Department of Medicine (L.L., J.C.A.), and Department of Clinical Biochemistry (G.R.), University College Hospital, London NW1 2BU, United Kingdom; and Division of Endocrinology (M.P.-Z., R.J.A.), Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390-8857

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. J. P. Monson, Center for Endocrinology, William Harvey Research Institute, St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, Queen Mary, University of London, London EC1A 7BE, United Kingdom. E-mail: j.p.monson{at}qmul.ac.uk.

Context: Combined 17-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase deficiency is a rare cause of congenital adrenal hyperplasia and hypogonadism. Novel single amino acid changes in P450c17 provide potentially important insights into key structural domains for enzyme function.

Objective, Design, and Setting: We report a novel missense mutation in P450c17 in a 17-yr-old female presenting with a malignant mixed germ cell tumor with yolk sac elements who demonstrated clinical and biochemical features of combined 17-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase deficiency.

Methods: Quantitative urinary steroid analysis was performed by high resolution gas chromatography. All eight coding exons of CYP17 were PCR amplified and sequenced. The position of arginine at codon 96 was modeled using the CYP17 structure 2c17 (www.rcsb.org). The CYP17 genes were subcloned into pcDNA3, expressed in HEK-293 cells, and chromatographed.

Patient and Results: 17-Hydroxylase deficiency was confirmed by marked reductions in urinary and serum cortisol, androgens, and estradiol. Mutational analysis revealed a novel homozygous R96Q missense mutation in P450c17, affecting an amino acid in a key substrate-binding region of the enzyme, leading to complete inactivity.

Conclusion: The description of a second missense mutation at codon 96 (R96W and R96Q) in the substrate-binding region of P450c17 provides strong evidence for the key role of this amino acid in 17-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase function. An association between a malignant germ cell tumor and 17-hydroxylase deficiency has not been reported previously, although the presence of gonadoblastoma in the ovary of a patient with this condition has recently been described.