Androgens I. — A Review of Current Research on the Binding and Mechanism of Action of Androgenic Steroids, Notably 5α-Dihydrotestosterone

Abstract

The elucidation of the processes by which steroid hormones are hound within cells requiring specific hormones for their growth and function, generally termed the “target” cells of a given hormone, has emerged as a notably impressive aspect of contemporary endocrinology at the molecular level. Despite the widespread acceptance of the importance of these selective binding processes and their relevance to the mechanism of action of steroid hormones, investigations on the androgens have consistently lagged behind those on other classes of steroids. This lack of progress was initially explainable by the relative paucity of studies on the androgens, yet the existence of a similar situation at the present time, despite the concerted efforts of many research groups, is due to certain inherent difficulties associated with this class of steroid hormones. First, androgens regulate the function of a remarkable diversity of tissues and their overall mechanism of action is likely to be complex. Secondly, there is now an impressive body of evidence (1,2, 3) to support the view, initially proposed in the innovative work of Bruchovsky and Wilson (4) (more generally reviewed in ref. 5) that metabolism of the principal circulating androgen, testosterone, within androgen target cells is a characteristic feature of the binding process and mechanism of action of androgens.