Paternal undernutrition and overnutrition modify semen composition and preimplantation embryo developmental kinetics in mice.

Background: The importance of parental diet in relation to eventual offspring health is increasing in prominence due to the increased frequency of parents of reproductive age consuming poor diets. Whilst maternal health and offspring outcome have been studied in some detail, the paternal impacts are not as well understood. A father's poor nutritional status has been shown to have negative consequences on foetal growth and development and ultimately impact the long-term adult health of the offspring.

Prostate cancer androgen biosynthesis relies solely on CYP17A1 downstream metabolites.

Prostate cancer (PC) is dependent on androgen receptor (AR) activation by testosterone and 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Intratumoral androgen accumulation and activation despite systemic androgen deprivation therapy underlies the development of castration-resistant PC (CRPC), but the precise pathways involved remain controversial. Here we investigated the differential contributions of de novo androgen biosynthesis and androgen precursor conversion to androgen accumulation.

Prevention of Adrenal Crisis: Cortisol Responses to Major Stress Compared to Stress Dose Hydrocortisone Delivery.

Context: Patients with adrenal insufficiency require increased hydrocortisone cover during major stress to avoid a life-threatening adrenal crisis. However, current treatment recommendations are not evidence-based.

Objective: To identify the most appropriate mode of hydrocortisone delivery in patients with adrenal insufficiency who are exposed to major stress.

Steroid metabolome analysis reveals prevalent glucocorticoid excess in primary aldosteronism.

Background: Adrenal aldosterone excess is the most common cause of secondary hypertension and is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity. However, adverse metabolic risk in primary aldosteronism extends beyond hypertension, with increased rates of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and osteoporosis, which cannot be easily explained by aldosterone excess.

Methods: We performed mass spectrometry-based analysis of a 24-hour urine steroid metabolome in 174 newly diagnosed patients with primary aldosteronism (103 unilateral adenomas, 71 bilateral adrenal hyperplasias) in comparison to 162 healthy controls, 56 patients with endocrine inactive adrenal adenoma, 104 patients with mild subclinical, and 47 with clinically overt adrenal cortisol excess.

Modified-Release and Conventional Glucocorticoids and Diurnal Androgen Excretion in Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia.

Context: The classic androgen synthesis pathway proceeds via dehydroepiandrosterone, androstenedione, and testosterone to 5α-dihydrotestosterone. However, 5α-dihydrotestosterone synthesis can also be achieved by an alternative pathway originating from 17α-hydroxyprogesterone (17OHP), which accumulates in congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). Similarly, recent work has highlighted androstenedione-derived 11-oxygenated 19-carbon steroids as active androgens, and in CAH, androstenedione is generated directly from 17OHP.

Steroid Sulfatase Deficiency and Androgen Activation Before and After Puberty.

Context: Steroid sulfatase (STS) cleaves the sulfate moiety off steroid sulfates, including dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) sulfate (DHEAS), the inactive sulfate ester of the adrenal androgen precursor DHEA. Deficient DHEA sulfation, the opposite enzymatic reaction to that catalyzed by STS, results in androgen excess by increased conversion of DHEA to active androgens. STS deficiency (STSD) due to deletions or inactivating mutations in the X-linked STS gene manifests with ichthyosis, but androgen synthesis and metabolism in STSD have not been studied in detail yet.

Evidence for Increased 5α-Reductase Activity During Early Childhood in Daughters of Women With Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.

Context: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a heritable, complex genetic disease. Animal models suggest that androgen exposure at critical developmental stages contributes to disease pathogenesis. We hypothesized that genetic variation resulting in increased androgen production produces the phenotypic features of PCOS by programming during critical developmental periods.

Ferredoxin 1b (Fdx1b) Is the Essential Mitochondrial Redox Partner for Cortisol Biosynthesis in Zebrafish.

Mitochondrial cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes rely on electron transfer from the redox partner ferredoxin 1 (FDX1) for catalytic activity. Key steps in steroidogenesis require mitochondrial CYP enzymes and FDX1. Over 30 ferredoxin mutations have been explored in vitro; however, no spontaneously occurring mutations have been identified in humans leaving the impact of FDX1 on steroidogenesis in the whole organism largely unknown.

Mitotane therapy in adrenocortical cancer induces CYP3A4 and inhibits 5α-reductase, explaining the need for personalized glucocorticoid and androgen replacement.

Context: Mitotane [1-(2-chlorophenyl)-1-(4-chlorophenyl)-2,2-dichloroethane] is the first-line treatment for metastatic adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) and is also regularly used in the adjuvant setting after presumed complete removal of the primary tumor. Mitotane is considered an adrenolytic substance, but there is limited information on distinct effects on steroidogenesis. However, adrenal insufficiency and male hypogonadism are widely recognized side effects of mitotane treatment.

Genotype-phenotype analysis in congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to P450 oxidoreductase deficiency.

Context: P450 oxidoreductase deficiency (PORD) is a unique congenital adrenal hyperplasia variant that manifests with glucocorticoid deficiency, disordered sex development (DSD), and skeletal malformations. No comprehensive data on genotype-phenotype correlations in Caucasian patients are available.

Objective: The objective of the study was to establish genotype-phenotype correlations in a large PORD cohort.