Steroid hormones regulation

Steroid hormones regulate a very extensive assembly of functions in numerous corporal tissues. Estrogens, the steroid hormones to which the majority of this chapter is dedicated, regulate from basic functions related to reproduction, the development of the skeleton, the maintenance of arterial tension, or diverse nervous functions. The molecular studies on the mechanism of action of estrogens have set the foundations that will permit us to understand how they carry out such diverse functions in such dissimilar tissues as well as how some substances that act through the estrogen signaling pathway can exercise opposite functions in different tissues. In this respect, there are five facts of particular importance that constitute the central nucleus of this revision ... 

Venkov C, Rankin A, Vaughan D (1996) Identification of authentic estrogen receptor in cultured endothelial cells a potential mechanism for steroid hormone regulation of endothelial function. Circulation 94 727-733... 

The animal organism contains more than 100 hormones and hormone-like substances, which can be classified either according to their structure or according to their function. In chemical terms, most hormones are amino add derivatives, peptides or proteins, or steroids. Hormones regulate the following processes ... 

Steroid hormones, acting through their receptors, play important roles in the normal development and function of many organs. In addition, they are involved in the pathogenesis of many types of cancer [146], Several reports confirmed that many kallikreins are under steroid hormone regulation in endocrine-related tissues and cell lines [100, 147-155],... 

Breast, prostate, testicular, and ovarian cancers are all considered hormonal malignancies. Sex hormones are known to affect the initiation or progression of these malignancies. However, all kallikreins are under sex steroid hormonal regulation. Taken together, kallikreins may represent downstream targets by which hormones affect the initiation or progression of such tumors. 

Cleutjens KB, van Eekelen CC, van der Korput HA, Brinkmann AO, Trapman J. Two androgen response regions cooperate in steroid hormone regulated activity of the prostate-specific antigen promoter. J Biol Chem 1996 271 6379-6388. 

Yousef GM, Fracchioli S, Scorilas A, et al. Steroid hormone regulation and prognostic value of the human kallikrein gene 14 in ovarian cancer. Am J Clin Pathol 2003 119 346-355. 

Fig. 1. A model for the mechanism whereby steroid hormones regulate rates of gene transcription. Steroids (S) bind with receptors (R) to form a steroid-receptor complex that interacts with DNA sequences called hormone response elements (HRE). These HREs are at variable distances from the gene promoter which frequently consists of upstream promoter elements (UPE) and conserved elements such as TATA box (TATA).

Simons SS Jr, Oshima H, Sz ary D. Higher levels of control modulation of steroid hormone-regulated gene transcription. Mol. Endocrinol. 1992 6 995-1002. 

Steroid hormones regulate tissuc-spccinc gene expression. The individual hormones exhibit remarkable tissue selcvlit-ity. even though their structural differences ate relatiu ly minor. Estrogens such as estradiol increa.se uterine cell proliferation. for example, but nut prostate cell prulifcriilion... 

LeBlanc G.A. (1999) Steroid hormone regulated processes in invertebrates and their susceptibility to environmental endocrine disruption. In Environmental Endocrine Disrupters an Evolutionary Perspective (ed. Guillette L.J., Crain A.). London Taylor Francis. 

Fuxe, K., Gustafsson, J. A., and Wetterberg, L. (1981). Steroid hormone regulation of the brain. Pergamon Press, Oxford. 

After hormones bind to receptors in the cell nucleus, they activate appropriate genes, which bring about sdective transcription and expression of the hormones. Steroid hormones regulate growth and development, as well as homeostatic processes. Trophic hormones from the pituitary regulate hormonal secretions by the thyroid, adrenals, and gonads. 

Albrecht, E.D. and Pepe, G. J, Steroid hormone regulation of angiogenesis in the primate endometrium, Front 5ioici., 8, d416-d429,2003. 

D. Hormones. Steroid hormones regulate the synthesis of steroid-specific proteins. The exact mechanism of antineoplastic action is unknown. 

Steroid hormone regulation of the synthesis of egg-white protein... 

Bmnt, S.A., R. Riehl J.C. Silver. 1990. Steroid hormone regulation of the Achlya ambisexualis 85-kilodalton heat shock protein, a component of the Achlya steroid receptor complex. Mol. Cell. Biol. 10 273-281. 

Tokuyama Y, Tokuyama H (1994) Retinoic acid and steroid hormones regulate IgA production by LPS-stim-ulated murine spleen cells. Immunopharmacology 28 145-151... 

Chan, L., Means, A. R., and O Malley, B. W., 1978, Steroid hormone regulation of specific gene expression, Vitam. Horm. 36 259. 

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