Sudden infant death with dysgenesis of the testes syndrome in a non-Amish infant: A case report

Am J Med Genet A. 2020 Nov;182(11):2751-2754. doi: 10.1002/ajmg.a.61842. Epub 2020 Sep 4.

Abstract

Sudden Infant Death with Dysgenesis of the Testes syndrome (SIDDT) is a very rare condition associated with biallelic pathogenic variants in the TSPYL1 gene first reported in 2004. It is characterized by sudden cardiac or respiratory arrest, disordered testicular development, neurologic dysfunction, and is uniformly fatal before the age of 12 months. There were previously 21 reported cases of SIDDT in the literature, all from nine Old Order Amish families published in a single paper. In this report, we describe a non-Amish, phenotypically female infant with poor feeding and abnormal motor movements noted at birth. Initial testing showed that she had a 46,XY chromosome complement, and chromosomal microarray showed a significant absence of heterozygosity (AOH) totalling roughly 600 Mb across multiple different chromosomes, indicating consanguinity. Further workup with exome sequencing revealed homozygosity for a frameshift variant in TSPYL1 (c.725_726delTG, p.Val242GlufsTer52) consistent with a diagnosis of SIDDT, explaining many of her clinical features. However, she was also noted to have a mild T-cell lymphopenia and developed intractable epilepsy after hospital discharge. These features have not previously been reported in SIDDT and may represent phenotypic expansion. To our knowledge, this patient is the 22nd case of SIDDT to be reported in the literature, and the first to be of non-Amish heritage.

Keywords: SIDDT; TSPY-like 1; TSPYL1; disorder of sexual differentiation; sudden infant death with dysgenesis of the testes syndrome.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Amish
  • Exome Sequencing
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Mutation*
  • Nuclear Proteins / genetics*
  • Phenotype*
  • Sudden Infant Death / genetics
  • Sudden Infant Death / pathology*
  • Testis / abnormalities*
  • Testis / pathology

Substances

  • Nuclear Proteins
  • TSPYL1 protein, human

Supplementary concepts

  • Sudden Infant Death with Dysgenesis of the Testes Syndrome