Estrogen and androgen-converting enzymes 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and their involvement in cancer: with a special focus on 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1, 2, and breast cancer.
AKR1C3 is a drug target in hormonal and hormonal independent malignancies and acts as a major peripheral 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase to yield the potent androgens testosterone and dihydrotestosterone, and as a prostaglandin (PG) F synthase to produce proliferative ligands for the PG FP receptor.
The present study investigated prereceptor estrogen metabolism through steroid sulphatase (STS) and 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity and subsequent nongenomic estrogen signaling in human CRC tissue, in The Cancer Genome Atlas colon adenocarcinoma data set, and in in vitro and in vivo CRC models.
Also, the mRNA expression for 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 12 was lower in the adipose tissue of women with cancer compared with controls (0.19 ± 0.10 vs 0.37 ± 0.21, P = .018).