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Pathway Description
Androgen and Estrogen Metabolism
Homo sapiens
Metabolic Pathway
Created: 2013-08-01
Last Updated: 2025-01-23
This pathway describes the inactivation and catabolism of male (androgen) and female (estrogen) hormones. Many steroid hormones are transformed by sulfatases, dehydrogenases and glucuronide transferases to enhance their solubility and to facilitate their elimination. Inactivation means to convert an active compound into an inactive compound. Peripheral inactivation, which is inactivation caused by outside enzymes such as liver enzymes for example, is needed to maintain a steady-state level of plasma. This means that if either of these hormones are to be “chemical signals”, their half-life in the bloodstream has to be limited so that a variation in secretion rate can be emulated in the plasma. A large part of inactivation/catabolism occurs in the liver, although a little bit of catabolic activity does happen in the kidneys. Inactive androgens and estrogens are mostly eliminated in the urine. For this to happen, androgen and estrogen need to be converted to compounds that are less hydrophobic so that they are more soluble at higher concentrations. In this pathway, the conversion to a hydrophilic compound is an oxidation of a 17b-hydroxyl group. These hormones are needed for sexual development in both males and females.
References
Androgen and Estrogen Metabolism References
Lehninger, A.L. Lehninger principles of biochemistry (4th ed.) (2005). New York: W.H Freeman.
Salway, J.G. Metabolism at a glance (3rd ed.) (2004). Alden, Mass.: Blackwell Pub.
Norman, A.W, and Litwack, G. Hormones (2nd ed.) (1997) San Diego : Academic Press.
Eagon PK, Elm MS, Epley MJ, Shinozuka H, Rao KN: Sex steroid metabolism and receptor status in hepatic hyperplasia and cancer in rats. Gastroenterology. 1996 Apr;110(4):1199-207.
Pubmed: 8613010
Aksoy IA, Wood TC, Weinshilboum R: Human liver estrogen sulfotransferase: identification by cDNA cloning and expression. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1994 May 16;200(3):1621-9. doi: 10.1006/bbrc.1994.1637.
Pubmed: 8185618
Her C, Aksoy IA, Kimura S, Brandriff BF, Wasmuth JJ, Weinshilboum RM: Human estrogen sulfotransferase gene (STE): cloning, structure, and chromosomal localization. Genomics. 1995 Sep 1;29(1):16-23. doi: 10.1006/geno.1995.1210.
Pubmed: 8530066
Falany CN, Krasnykh V, Falany JL: Bacterial expression and characterization of a cDNA for human liver estrogen sulfotransferase. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 1995 Jun;52(6):529-39.
Pubmed: 7779757
Harada N: Cloning of a complete cDNA encoding human aromatase: immunochemical identification and sequence analysis. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1988 Oct 31;156(2):725-32. doi: 10.1016/s0006-291x(88)80903-3.
Pubmed: 2973313
Chen SA, Besman MJ, Sparkes RS, Zollman S, Klisak I, Mohandas T, Hall PF, Shively JE: Human aromatase: cDNA cloning, Southern blot analysis, and assignment of the gene to chromosome 15. DNA. 1988 Jan-Feb;7(1):27-38. doi: 10.1089/dna.1988.7.27.
Pubmed: 3390233
Corbin CJ, Graham-Lorence S, McPhaul M, Mason JI, Mendelson CR, Simpson ER: Isolation of a full-length cDNA insert encoding human aromatase system cytochrome P-450 and its expression in nonsteroidogenic cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Dec;85(23):8948-52. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.23.8948.
Pubmed: 2848247
Peltoketo H, Isomaa V, Maentausta O, Vihko R: Complete amino acid sequence of human placental 17 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase deduced from cDNA. FEBS Lett. 1988 Oct 24;239(1):73-7. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(88)80548-9.
Pubmed: 2846351
Luu The V, Labrie C, Zhao HF, Couet J, Lachance Y, Simard J, Leblanc G, Cote J, Berube D, Gagne R, et al.: Characterization of cDNAs for human estradiol 17 beta-dehydrogenase and assignment of the gene to chromosome 17: evidence of two mRNA species with distinct 5'-termini in human placenta. Mol Endocrinol. 1989 Aug;3(8):1301-9. doi: 10.1210/mend-3-8-1301.
Pubmed: 2779584
Luu-The V, Labrie C, Simard J, Lachance Y, Zhao HF, Couet J, Leblanc G, Labrie F: Structure of two in tandem human 17 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase genes. Mol Endocrinol. 1990 Feb;4(2):268-75. doi: 10.1210/mend-4-2-268.
Pubmed: 2330005
Beaulieu M, Levesque E, Hum DW, Belanger A: Isolation and characterization of a human orphan UDP-glucuronosyltransferase, UGT2B11. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1998 Jul 9;248(1):44-50. doi: 10.1006/bbrc.1998.8908.
Pubmed: 9675083
Gerhard DS, Wagner L, Feingold EA, Shenmen CM, Grouse LH, Schuler G, Klein SL, Old S, Rasooly R, Good P, Guyer M, Peck AM, Derge JG, Lipman D, Collins FS, Jang W, Sherry S, Feolo M, Misquitta L, Lee E, Rotmistrovsky K, Greenhut SF, Schaefer CF, Buetow K, Bonner TI, Haussler D, Kent J, Kiekhaus M, Furey T, Brent M, Prange C, Schreiber K, Shapiro N, Bhat NK, Hopkins RF, Hsie F, Driscoll T, Soares MB, Casavant TL, Scheetz TE, Brown-stein MJ, Usdin TB, Toshiyuki S, Carninci P, Piao Y, Dudekula DB, Ko MS, Kawakami K, Suzuki Y, Sugano S, Gruber CE, Smith MR, Simmons B, Moore T, Waterman R, Johnson SL, Ruan Y, Wei CL, Mathavan S, Gunaratne PH, Wu J, Garcia AM, Hulyk SW, Fuh E, Yuan Y, Sneed A, Kowis C, Hodgson A, Muzny DM, McPherson J, Gibbs RA, Fahey J, Helton E, Ketteman M, Madan A, Rodrigues S, Sanchez A, Whiting M, Madari A, Young AC, Wetherby KD, Granite SJ, Kwong PN, Brinkley CP, Pearson RL, Bouffard GG, Blakesly RW, Green ED, Dickson MC, Rodriguez AC, Grimwood J, Schmutz J, Myers RM, Butterfield YS, Griffith M, Griffith OL, Krzywinski MI, Liao N, Morin R, Palmquist D, Petrescu AS, Skalska U, Smailus DE, Stott JM, Schnerch A, Schein JE, Jones SJ, Holt RA, Baross A, Marra MA, Clifton S, Makowski KA, Bosak S, Malek J: The status, quality, and expansion of the NIH full-length cDNA project: the Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC). Genome Res. 2004 Oct;14(10B):2121-7. doi: 10.1101/gr.2596504.
Pubmed: 15489334
Chung BC, Picado-Leonard J, Haniu M, Bienkowski M, Hall PF, Shively JE, Miller WL: Cytochrome P450c17 (steroid 17 alpha-hydroxylase/17,20 lyase): cloning of human adrenal and testis cDNAs indicates the same gene is expressed in both tissues. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Jan;84(2):407-11. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.2.407.
Pubmed: 3025870
Picado-Leonard J, Miller WL: Cloning and sequence of the human gene for P450c17 (steroid 17 alpha-hydroxylase/17,20 lyase): similarity with the gene for P450c21. DNA. 1987 Oct;6(5):439-48. doi: 10.1089/dna.1987.6.439.
Pubmed: 3500022
Bradshaw KD, Waterman MR, Couch RT, Simpson ER, Zuber MX: Characterization of complementary deoxyribonucleic acid for human adrenocortical 17 alpha-hydroxylase: a probe for analysis of 17 alpha-hydroxylase deficiency. Mol Endocrinol. 1987 May;1(5):348-54. doi: 10.1210/mend-1-5-348.
Pubmed: 3274893
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