The first six grades of the scale, grades 1 through 6, are differentiated by the degree of genital masculinization; grade 1 is indicated when the external genitalia is fully masculinized, grade 6 is indicated when the external genitalia is fully feminized, and grades 2 through 5 quantify four degrees of decreasingly masculinized genitalia that lie in the interim. Grade 7 is indistinguishable from grade 6 until puberty, and is thereafter differentiated by the presence of secondary terminal hair; grade 6 is indicated when secondary terminal hair is present, whereas grade 7 is indicated when it is absent. The Quigley scale can be used in conjunction with the traditional three classes of AIS to provide additional information regarding the degree of genital masculinization, and is particularly useful when the diagnosis is PAIS. Complete AIS
Partial AIS
Mild AIS
Management
Management of AIS is currently limited to symptomatic management; no method is currently available to correct the malfunctioning androgen receptor proteins produced by AR gene mutations. Areas of management include sex assignment, genitoplasty, gonadectomy in relation to tumor risk, hormone replacement therapy, genetic counseling, and psychological counseling. CAIS
PAIS
MAIS
Epidemiology
AIS represents about 15% to 20% of DSDs and affects 1 in 20,000 to 1 in 64,000 males.Estimates for the incidence of androgen insensitivity syndrome are based on a relatively small population size, thus are known to be imprecise. CAIS is estimated to occur in one of every 20,400 46,XY births.
Disease-associated variants of either subunit of KATP, KCNJ11 and ABCC8, can result in a channel that is "stuck open", rendering the β cell unable to secrete insulin in response to high blood glucose. Children born with disease-associated KATP variants often have intrauterine growth restriction and resulting low birthweight. Similarly, the second most common cause of permanent neonatal diabetes is alterations to the gene that encodes insulin. Mutations associated with neonatal diabetes tend to cause misfolding of the insulin protein; misfolded insulin accumulates in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), leading to ER stress and β-cell death.Most transient neonatal diabetes is caused by the over-expression of a cluster of genes on chromosome 6, a region called 6q24. Over-expression of 6q24 is often caused by anomylous epigenetic regulation of the locus. The copy of 6q24 inherited from ones father normally has much higher gene expression than the copy inherited from ones mother. Therefore, inheriting two copies of the gene region from ones father (either through uniparental disomy, or receiving two copies from ones father in addition to the copy from ones mother) commonly results in over-expression of the locus. Alternatively, inheriting a maternal copy of 6q24 with defective DNA methylation can result in similar over-expression of the locus.Variants in several other genes can cause neonatal diabetes, though these cases are much rarer. Genetic changes that disable the transcription factors CNOT1, GATA4, GATA6, PDX1, PTF1A, or RFX6 – all involved in the development of the pancreas – result in a shrunken or missing pancreas.