Blood chimerism in a girl with Down syndrome and possible freemartin effect leading to aplasia of the Müllerian derivatives

Hum Reprod. 2010 May;25(5):1339-43. doi: 10.1093/humrep/deq048. Epub 2010 Feb 26.

Abstract

Cytogenetic and molecular genetic analysis in a case of sex-discordant dizygotic twins revealed blood chimerism in the girl (46,XY in blood and 47,XX, + 21 in fibroblasts) caused by feto-fetal transfusion from her healthy brother. The girl presented with Down syndrome, aplasia of the uterus and the Fallopian tubes and normal female external genitalia. We propose that the lack of Müllerian structures is caused by the effect of the Müllerian inhibiting substance transferred from the male to the female twin in early pregnancy. This disorder of sex development is known as freemartin phenomenon in female cattle from sex-discordant twin pairs.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Animals
  • Cattle
  • Child, Preschool
  • Chimera / genetics*
  • Chromosomes, Human, Y
  • Down Syndrome / blood
  • Down Syndrome / genetics*
  • Down Syndrome / immunology
  • Female
  • Fetofetal Transfusion / blood
  • Fetofetal Transfusion / genetics
  • Freemartinism / genetics*
  • Haplotypes
  • Histocompatibility Testing
  • Humans
  • In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Karyotyping
  • Lymphocytes / ultrastructure
  • Male
  • Mullerian Ducts / abnormalities*
  • Pedigree
  • Pregnancy
  • Twins, Dizygotic