PMID- 7911183
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 19940705
LR  - 20190611
IS  - 0140-6736 (Print)
IS  - 0140-6736 (Linking)
VI  - 343
IP  - 8911
DP  - 1994 Jun 11
TI  - Physiological importance of dehydroepiandrosterone.
PG  - 1479-81
AB  - Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), with its sulphate conjugate (DHEAS), is the most 
      abundant steroid hormone in the circulation but its physiological importance is 
      unclear. We propose that DHEA has either oestrogen-like or androgen-like effects 
      depending on the hormonal milieu. In premenopausal women DHEA is either an 
      oestrogen antagonist, perhaps through the competitive binding of its metabolite 
      5-androstene-3 beta, 17 beta-diol (ADIOL) and oestradiol to the oestrogen 
      receptor, or an androgen through its metabolism to androstenedione and 
      testosterone. In women DHEA contributes to abdominal obesity and insulin 
      resistance: in the premenopausal high oestrogen concentrations may counterbalance 
      the androgenic effects of DHEA but in the postmenopausal metabolism to 
      testosterone may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, though this effect 
      may be counterbalanced by the age-dependent decline in DHEA and also by the 
      oestradiol-like effects of ADIOL. In some breast cancer cell lines in a low 
      oestrogen milieu DHEA has an oestradiol-like effect, stimulating tumour growth, 
      whereas in oestradiol abundance DHEA antagonises the growth-stimulating effect of 
      oestradiol. In men, with an androgenic milieu, DHEA acts like an oestrogen and 
      protects against cardiovascular disease.
FAU - Ebeling, P
AU  - Ebeling P
AD  - Second Department of Medicine, Helsinki University Hospital, Finland.
FAU - Koivisto, V A
AU  - Koivisto VA
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Review
PL  - England
TA  - Lancet
JT  - Lancet (London, England)
JID - 2985213R
RN  - 459AG36T1B (Dehydroepiandrosterone)
SB  - IM
MH  - Breast Neoplasms/metabolism
MH  - Cardiovascular Diseases/blood
MH  - Dehydroepiandrosterone/blood/*physiology
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - Insulin Resistance/physiology
MH  - Male
MH  - Menopause/metabolism
MH  - Obesity/metabolism
MH  - Reference Values
RF  - 31
EDAT- 1994/06/11 00:00
MHDA- 1994/06/11 00:01
CRDT- 1994/06/11 00:00
PHST- 1994/06/11 00:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 1994/06/11 00:01 [medline]
PHST- 1994/06/11 00:00 [entrez]
AID - S0140-6736(94)92587-9 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/s0140-6736(94)92587-9 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Lancet. 1994 Jun 11;343(8911):1479-81. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(94)92587-9.