ESPE Abstracts

Germ cell tumors (GCTs) comprise a heterogeneous group of neoplasms. The WHO classification 2016 recognizes three types of testicular GCTs, including the GCNIS-related (Germ Cell Neoplasia In Situ) GCTs, being the malignant seminomas and nonseminomas. They originate from a totipotent embryonic germ cell. GCNIS, seminoma and embryonal carcinoma, are characterized by the pluripotency marker OCT3/4 (POU5F1). Seminomas (and GCNIS) are positive for SOX17 and embryonal carcinomas fo...

Background: Boys with PWS often have unilateral or bilateral cryptorchidism. Prospective studies on the treatment of cryptorchidism in boys with PWS are lacking and there is no treatment consensus among pediatricians and urologists.Objective and hypotheses: We hypothesized that hCG treatment would lead to a scrotal position of the testes in infants with PWS and cryptorchidism. We therefore evaluated the effects of hCG treatment on testis position. Additi...

Background: While many causes of 46,XY disorders of sex development (DSD) have been elucidated, the mechanisms leading to 46,XX testicular or ovotesticular DSD are poorly understood. It has been hypothesized that both conditions may represent a phenotypic spectrum and that they might be caused by (different) mutations in the same genes.Methods: Whole exome sequencing was used to identify the molecular cause in ten unrelated patients with 46,XX (ovo)testi...

Currently, the majority of patients with DSD do not have a molecular diagnosis. Although high throughput sequencing is having an impact on the clinical diagnosis of DSD the accurate interpretation genomic datasets of the identification of new gene mutations causing DSD is challenging. This is due to emerging evidence that DSD may be caused by mutations in many different genes and the prevalence of mutations in a single gene may be very low. As larger number of DSD patients are...

Background: Gonadectomy is generally postponed until early adulthood in complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS) and close surveillance of gonads in situ proposed in males with partial AIS (PAIS). Delaying gonadectomy further is controversial given the lack of data regarding germ cell cancer (GCC) development in adulthood and the absence of biomarkers for noninvasive GCC screening.Aims and objectives: To study the prevalence of invasive G...

Introduction: 5α-reductase type 2 deficiency (5α--RD) and 17β-HSD type 3 deficiency (17β-HSDD) are rare differences/disorders of sex development (DSD) in which impairment of steroidogenic enzymes causes undervirilisation in patients with a 46,XY genotype. We aim to enlarge the limited knowledge on long-term gonadal function and gonadal pathology in these conditions.Methods: Data on phenotype, laborato...