DHEA action

The major androgen or androgen precursor produced by the adrenal cortex is dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). Most 17-hydroxypregnenolone follows the glucocorticoid pathway, but a small fraction is subjected to oxidative fission and removal of the two-carbon side chain through the action of 17,20-lyase. The lyase activity is actually part of the same enzyme (P450cl7) that catalyzes 17tt-hydroxylation. This is therefore a dual function protein. The lyase activity is important in both the adrenals and... 

The results of a placebo-controlled trial of DHEA in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus were recently reported as well as those of a study of DHEA replacement in women with adrenal insufficiency. In both studies a small beneficial effect was seen, with significant improvement of the disease in the former and a clearly added sense of well-being in the latter. The androgenic or estrogenic actions of DHEA could explain the effects of the compound in both situations. 

Normally, the initially low levels of DHEA and DHEAS in human serum begin to increase at age 6, peak at 25, and undergo an age-related decline thereafter, diminishing 95% by 85-90 years of age [54]. No one has provided convincing mechanism(s) either for the age-related decline, or for the specific metabolic fimction of the steroids. DHEA has been considered as an "anti-hormone" which cannot "excite" metabolism in the true classical sense of hormone action, but it "de-excites" metabolic processes which overproduce when DHEA in our body is in short supply. An article... 

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