Abundant clinical evidence suggests that androgens normally inhibit mammary epithelial proliferation and breast growth. Clinical and nonhuman primate studies support the notion that androgens inhibit mammary proliferation and, thus, may protect from breast cancer. On the other hand, administration of conventional estrogen treatment suppresses endogenous androgens and may, thus, enhance estrogen...

It has been widely suggested that elevated androgen levels may be critically involved in the genesis of prostate cancer. Despite the dependency of the normal prostate and of most prostatic cancers upon androgens and the fact that tumors can be produced in some rodent models by androgen administration, I will argue that, contrary to prevalent opinion, declining rather than high levels of androge...

Androgens are the male sex hormones responsible for development of the male reproductive system. Testosterone is the main androgen, however, other circulating androgens also exist; these are dehydroepiandrosterone, androstenedione and androstenediol. In some tissues, testosterone can be converted to dihydrotestosterone by action of 5┙-reductase. Testosterone is also found in females, but at muc...

It is widely recognized that vascular function is modulated by the endocrine system. So it is known that hormones as aldosterone, renin-angiotensin II system, thyroids hormones, oxitocine, ghrelin, vasopressine, etc exert action on the vascular tone (Axelband et al., 2011; Nguyen & Touyz, 2011; Szmydynger-Chodobska et al., 2011; Tesauro et al., 2010;). Regarding sex hormones, epidemiological st...

Globally, cardiovascular disease will continue causing most human deaths for the foreseeable future. The consistent gender gap in life span of approximately 5.6 yr in all advanced economies must derive from gender differences in age-specific cardiovascular death rates, which rise steeply in parallel for both genders but 5-10 yr earlier in men. The lack of inflection point at modal age of menopa...

It has been widely suggested that elevated androgen levels may be critically involved in the genesis of prostate cancer. Despite the dependency of the normal prostate and of most prostatic cancers upon androgens and the fact that tumors can be produced in some rodent models by androgen administration, I will argue that, contrary to prevalent opinion, declining rather than high levels of androge...

The mechanisms by which male sex hormones modulate cardiovascular function are a subject of contemporary interest. Several lines of evidence indicate that androgens can exert acute vasorelaxing effects. On the other hand, chronic exposure to androgens has been shown to promote increases in blood pressure and compromise renal function. In the present issue of Clinical Science, Malkin and co-work...

One of the most typical hallmarks of prostate cancer cells is their exquisite dependence on androgens, which is the basis of the widely applied androgen deprivation therapy. Among the variety of key cellular processes and functions that are regulated by androgens, lipid metabolism stands out by its complex regulation and its many intricate links with cancer cell biology. Here, we review our cur...

Reckelhoff, Jane F., Licy L. Yanes, Radu Iliescu, Lourdes A. Fortepiani, and Joey P. Granger. Testosterone supplementation in aging men and women: possible impact on cardiovascular-renal disease. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 289: F941–F948, 2005; 10.1152/ajprenal.00034.2005.—Treatment of aging men and women with testosterone supplements is increasing. The supplements are given to postmenopausal w...