Clinical, Hormonal and Ultrastructure Studies of a Virilizing Hepatoblastoma

Abstract

Virilizing hepatoblastoma was found to be the cause of precocious puberty in a 3 1/4-year-old boy. Both human chorionic gonadotropins and alphafetoprotein in increased amounts were detected in serum and tumor tissue. These substances disappeared from the blood after removal of the tumor. Ultrastructure studies revealed the presence of dense, membrane bound, secretory granules responsible for the hormone production.

Virilizing hepatoblastoma?Significance of alpha-1-fetoprotein and human chorionic gonadotropin as tumor markers in diagnosis and follow-up

“…Testicular enlargement in most cases, as in our own, was not impressive since H C G exclusively stimulates Leydig-cell proliferation due to its primarily LH ( = I C S H ) like activity, while the tubular epithelium remains infantile. In most of the published cases this has been shown by testicular biopsies or bypost mortern studies [5,7,9,12,17,19,21,22,26,27,33,35,36]. Metastases to the other lobe of the liver [27], to the lungs and bones [5,17,33,35,36], abdominal lymphnodes [36], brain [4] and into the testes [44] have been observed.…”

Precocious puberty in an infant with hepatoblastoma: a case report

“…The first theory suggests excess secretion of testosterone by neoplastic cells [4], while the second theory suggests secondary stimulation of the testes by β-hCG [3,4,7,8]. While it remains difficult to speculate as to which may be the correct theory, it is interesting to notice that virilization occurred in all reported children with hepatoblastoma in association with elevated β-hCG levels, supporting the role of this hormone in excessive androgen production.…”

Pubertas praecox im Kleinkindesalter

“…Das ist allerdings nicht ganz korrekt. Die paraneoplastische Pubertas praecox entsteht durch die Produktion von β-HCG (humanes Choriongonadotropin β) im Tumorgewebe, welches wiederum die Leydig-Zellen im Hoden zur Testosteronproduktion anregt [2,3].…”