Few things in life are "free": cellular uptake of steroid hormones by an active transport mechanism.

Mol Interv

Departments of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143-2280, USA.

Published: December 2005

Conventional dogma holds that steroid hormones traverse cell membranes passively, owing to their lipophilic nature. The recently characterized protein megalin, however, functions as a transport protein on cell surfaces to carry steroids across the plasma membrane. Upon hydrolysis of steroid-associated binding globulins in lysosomes, free hormone is liberated and may exert its effects in the cell. Megalin-independent mechanisms of steroid uptake are likely important too, as the phenotypes of megalin-deficient mice do not completely mimic the phenotypes of androgen receptor- or estrogen receptor-null mice.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1124/mi.5.6.5DOI Listing

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