Do people with androgen insensitivity syndrome have periods?

Do people with androgen insensitivity syndrome have periods?

Complete androgen insensitivity syndrome occurs when the body cannot use androgens at all. People with this form of the condition have the external sex characteristics of females, but do not have a uterus and therefore do not menstruate and are unable to conceive a child (infertile).

Do people with androgen insensitivity develop breasts?

Complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS) When a girl with CAIS reaches puberty, she will: develop breasts and have growth spurts as normal, although she may end up slightly taller than usual for a girl.

Do people with androgen insensitivity syndrome have ovaries?

A penis does not form or is underdeveloped. This means the child’s genitals may develop as female, or are underdeveloped as male. The child may have have fully or partially undescended testicles. But there will be no womb or ovaries.

Do people with AIS have a vagina?

The newborn AIS infant has genitals of normal female appearance, undescended or partially descended testes, and usually a short vagina with no cervix. Occasionally the vagina is nearly absent. AIS individuals are clearly women. At puberty, the testes are stimulated by the pituitary gland, and produce testosterone.

How common is CAIS?

It is estimated that CAIS occurs in 1 in 20,400 to 1 in 99,000 individuals with a 46,XY karyotype.

What is complete androgen insensitivity syndrome CAIS?

Complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS) is a form of androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS; see this term), a disorder of sex development (DSD), characterized by the presence of female external genitalia in a 46,XY individual with normal testis development but undescended testes and unresponsiveness to age- …

Do people with CAIS have a clitoris?

In CAIS, there are no visible clinical signs of androgen action and the subjects are born with normal female external genitalia, though the clitoris, labia minora, and labia majora may be underdeveloped.

How does CAIS happen?

CAIS occurs when there is a problem with one of the genes on the X chromosome. This specific gene is called an androgen receptor gene. It governs how a developing fetus responds to androgens – hormones that bring about male characteristics. A child with CAIS has a genetic makeup of XY.

Can people with CAIS produce testosterone?

There are 3 clinical phenotypes of AIS in humans: complete (CAIS), partial (PAIS), and mild (MAIS). In all cases, the affected patients have normal or remnants of testes, normal testosterone production, and normal conversion of testosterone to DHT. However, the post receptor events do not occur.

How is CAIS treated?

Complete androgen insensitivity syndrome is treated with estrogen replacement therapy after puberty. Undescended testicles will be surgically removed because of the risk that they will become cancerous. Treatment for partial androgen insensitivity syndrome may include corrective surgery to match gender identity.

Do people with CAIS have wolffian ducts?

However, some phenotypic CAIS patients have Wolffian ducts, explained by minor residual activity of the mutant AR which is capable of responding to high local testosterone concentrations during early development (Hannema et al., 2004).

Do females have androgen receptors?

A key function of androgens in females is aromatisation to estrogens, but the AR is expressed in several female tissues, e.g. mammary gland, uterus, vulvar epithelium, vaginal mucosa and in ovarian follicles where it maintains follicle health during ovulation [9–12].

What is complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS)?

Complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS) is an AIS condition that results in the complete inability of the cell to respond to androgens. As such, the insensitivity to androgens is only clinically significant when it occurs in individuals with a Y chromosome or, more specifically, an SRY gene.

Is androgen insensitivity syndrome male or female?

Gender identity is typically female. Complete androgen insensitivity syndrome is caused by changes ( mutations) in the AR gene and is inherited in an X-linked manner. Treatment and gender assignment can be a very complex issue, and must be individualized with each affected person.

What is the karyotype of complete androgen insensitivity?

Individuals with complete androgen insensitivity are born phenotypically female, despite having a 46,XY karyotype. Individuals with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (grades 6 and 7 on the Quigley scale) are born phenotypically female, without any signs of genital masculinization, despite having a 46,XY karyotype.

What is the gender identity of individuals with CAIS?

Most individuals with CAIS are raised as females. They are born phenotypically female and usually have a heterosexual female gender identity; However, at least two case studies have reported male gender identity in individuals with CAIS.