Abstract

We studied the functional and structural consequences of two novel missense mutations in CYP21 found in women with hyperandrogenism. The women were predicted to carry mutations by hormonal evaluation, but did not display any of the genotypes commonly associated with congenital adrenal hyperplasia. In one woman the novel mutation V304M was found in homozygous form. After expression in COS-1 cells the mutated enzyme was found to have a residual activity of 46% for conversion of 17-hydroxyprogesterone and 26% for conversion of progesterone compared with the normal enzyme. The V304M variant thus represents the sixth known missense mutation associated with nonclassical disease. A normal degradation pattern for this mutant enzyme indicates that the missense mutation is of functional, rather than structural, importance. The other mutation, G375S, was detected in a young woman with signs of hyperandrogenism, in heterozygous form together with P453S, a mutation known to cause nonclassical congenital adrenal hyperplasia (her genotype was G375S+P453S/wild type). This novel variant almost completely abolished enzyme activity; conversion was 1.6% and 0.7% of normal for 17-hydroxyprogesterone and progesterone, respectively. These results underline the importance of genetic evaluation and counseling in hyperandrogenic women who are predicted to carry congenital adrenal hyperplasia-causing mutations by biochemical tests. It also supports the idea that the heterozygous carrier state for CYP21 mutations can be associated with symptoms of androgen excess in certain susceptible individuals.