Estrogen biosynthesis

Simpson, E.R., Mahendroo, M.S., and Means, G.D. et al. (1994). Aromatase cytochrome P450, the enzyme responsible for estrogen biosynthesis. Endocrine Reviews 15, 342-355. 

Yamamoto T, Takamori K, Okada H (1984) Estrogen biosynthesis in leiomyomata and myometrium of the uterus. Horm Metab Res 16 678-679... 

Kamat A, Hinshelwood MM, Murry BA, Mendelson CR. 2002. Mechanisms in tissue-specific regulation of estrogen biosynthesis in humans. Trends Endocrinol Metab 13 122-128. 

Yague JG, Lavaque E, Carretero J, Azcoitia I, Garcia-Segura LM. 2004. Aromatase, the enzyme responsible for estrogen biosynthesis, is expressed by human and rat glioblastomas. Neurosci Lett 368 279-284. 

The increasing clinical importance of tamoxifen in the 1980s prompted development of drugs that indirectly target the estrogen receptor, for example the aromatase inhibitor anastrozole (ARIMIDEX ), a selective inhibitor of estrogen biosynthesis [28]. Progress in treatment of hormone-dependent prostate cancer followed advances in breast cancer, with demonstration that... 

Mainly based on rat studies, a two-cell, two-gonadotropin hypothesis for ovarian estrogen biosynthesis has been proposed [63]. According to this model, LH stimulates the biosynthesis of androgens from cholesterol in the theca interna com-... 

Enzymes involved in steroid biosynthesis have proved to be good targets, both for therapeutic intervention and for mechanism-based inactivators (2). Aromatase, for example, catalyzes the final, rate-limiting step in estrogen biosynthesis (Equation 17.55). Aromatase has proved susceptible to mechanism-based inhibitors such as formestane and ex-emestane. These are now both used in the treatment of breast cancer (210). 

Certain phytoestrogens have also been suggested to inhibit enzymes involved in estrogen biosynthesis and metabolism, as well as thyroid biosynthesis. Preliminary studies suggest they inhibit protein kinases and topoisomerases, as well as influence the cell cycle and subsequent proliferation, differentiation and apoptotic pathways. Interest in phytoestrogens, such as isoflavones, has increased since they are reported to exhibit some nonhormonal effects, such as antioxidation. 

Osawa, Y., K. Shibata, D. Rohrer, C. Weeks, and W.L. Duax (1975). Reassignment of the absolute configuration of 19-substituted 19-hydroxys-teroids and stereomechanism of estrogen biosynthesis. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 97, 4400-4402. 

Arigoni, D., R. Battaglia, M. Akhtar, and T. Smith (1975). Stereospecificity of oxidation at C-19 in estrogen biosynthesis. Chem. Comm. 185-186. 

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