Human chorionic gonadotrophin secreting adrenocortical neoplasm presenting with peripheral precocious puberty in an infant
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Fatma Dursun
, Zekeriya İlçe
, İlkay Tosun
, Pınar Atla
, Sevinç Kalın
, Fatma Tuğba Güvenç
, Ülkü Miray Yıldırım
and Heves Kırmızıbekmez
Abstract
Adrenocortical tumor (ACT) is a rare malignant tumor which usually present with Cushing syndrome and virilization. Paraneoplastic syndromes (PNS) due to neoplasms can occur with peptides or cytokines secreted by the tumor. Here, we report a 13-month-old-male presented with severe masculinization. He had signs of precocious puberty with enlarged testicles, very high testosterone levels but low levels of gonadotrophins, and elevated β-hCG. He underwent a left nephrectomy. The histopathological evaluation revealed a diagnosis of adrenocortical neoplasm. The levels of androgens and β-hCG normalized after the resection of tumor, and the clinical findings improved within few months. We report the first pediatric patient with peripheral precocious puberty due to an ACT that secretes β-hCG as PNS. A β-hCG secreting ACT can cause severe virilization due to increased gonadal androgens stimulated by β-hCG as well as due to increased adrenal androgens from the tumor.
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Research funding: None declared.
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Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
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Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest.
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Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.
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Ethical approval: Not applicable.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Disorders of sex development – biologic, genetic, cultural, societal, and psychologic diversity of the human nature
- Review
- Diagnostic approach in 46, XY DSD: an endocrine society of bengal (ESB) consensus statement
- Original Articles
- Penile diameter during puberty in boys: a retrospective analysis of longitudinally obtained data
- Evaluation of bladder dysfunction in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus by uroflowmetry
- All aspects of galactosemia: a single center experience
- The evolution of pituitary cysts in growth hormone-treated children
- Phototherapy-induced hypocalcemia and hypoparathyroidism in icteric term newborns
- Clinical and laboratory evaluation of children with congenital hyperinsulinism: a single center experience
- Does cystatin C have an immunomodulatory role in Hashimoto’s thyroiditis?
- Molecular genetic etiology by whole exome sequence analysis in cases with familial type 1 diabetes mellitus without HLA haplotype predisposition or incomplete predisposition
- Features of BSCL2 related congenital generalized lipodystrophy in China: long-term follow-up of three patients and literature review
- Case Reports
- Congenital adrenal hyperplasia with a CYP21A2 deletion overlapping the tenascin-X gene: an atypical presentation
- The smallest dislocated microduplication of Xq27.1 harboring SOX3 gene associated with XX male phenotype
- Rare PHEX intron variant causes complete and severe phenotype in a family with hypophosphatemic rickets: a case report
- Human chorionic gonadotrophin secreting adrenocortical neoplasm presenting with peripheral precocious puberty in an infant
- Atypical familial diabetes associated with a novel NEUROD1 nonsense variant