Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) is a member of the neurotrophin family. Neurotrophins exert their effects by binding to corresponding receptors, which are formed by the tyrosine protein kinases TrkA, TrkB, and TrkC, and the low affinity p75NTR receptor. The role of neurotrophins in the biology of male genital organs is far from clear. In particular, little is known about the influence of sex hormones...

Females may favour some offspring over others by differential deposition of yolk hormones. In American kestrels (Falco sparverius), we found that yolks of eggs laid late in the sequence of a clutch had more testosterone (T) and androstenedione (A4) than yolks of first-laid eggs. To investigate the effects of these yolk androgens on nestling 'fitness', we injected both T and A4 into the yolks of...

Infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in developed countries. Epidemiological reports indicate that the incidence of HBV-related HCC is higher in males and postmenopausal females than other females. Increasing evidence suggests that sex hormones such as androgens and estrogens play an important role in the progression of an HBV infectio...

Maternal hormones are known to be present in avian eggs and can have beneficial effects on chick development. Recently, differences in avian yolk steroid concentrations between the sexes have been demonstrated, and in this context steroids have been proposed to be part of the avian sex-determining mechanism. In our study, we show that it is very unlikely that androgen concentrations alone are t...

Hormones and their receptors play an important role in the development and progression of breast carcinoma. Although the primary focus has been on oestrogen and oestrogen receptor (ER), androgen, androgen receptor (AR) and its coactivator(s) have been implicated in tumorigenesis of breast carcinoma and warrant further investigation. AR coactivator p44/Mep50 is identified as a subunit of methylo...

Clinical and experimental evidence support a role for gonadal steroids in modulating the expression and course of autoimmune diseases such as lupus. Whether or not inherited variation in sensitivity to circulating androgenic hormones could influence the manifestations of such disease is, however, unknown. We sought to determine whether differences in androgen sensitivity conferred by variation ...

Differentiation of skeletal muscle and the formation of the neuromuscular junction are regulated by steroid hormones. The effects of androgens on ion channel proteins central to neuromuscular signalling have been investigated in differentiating mouse muscle C2 cells and in C2 cells that stably overexpress the rat androgen receptor (AR) cDNA. Neither the expression nor function of ACh receptors ...

The incidence of reproductive disorders is constantly increasing and affects 15% couples, with male's abnormalities diagnosed in almost half the cases. male gonads exert two major functions testis productions gametes (exocrine function) sexual hormones (endocrine function). In last decades, next to steroid receptors such as estrogen androgen receptors, involvement other members nuclear receptor...

Sex steroid hormones have been shown to affect adrenocortical function and trophism, yet little is known about androgen action in human adrenocortical gland. In this study we examined the effects of androgens on transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF/beta1) production by the human adrenocortical cell line, NCI-H295, which we recently demonstrated to express androgen receptor and whose growth is ...

Cyclin D1 is a cell cycle control protein that plays an important role in regenerating liver and many types of cancer. Previous reports have shown that cyclin D1 can directly enhance estrogen receptor activity and inhibit androgen receptor activity in a ligand-independent manner and thus may play an important role in hormone-responsive malignancies. In this study, we examine a distinct mechanis...