Van Luu-The

TL;DR: DHEA has been found to increase bone mineral density and to stimulate vaginal maturation without affecting the endometrium, while improving well-being and libido with no significant side effects and thus minimizing the potential side effects observed with androgens or estrogens administered systemically.

TL;DR: The new field of intracrinology or local formation of sex steroids from DHEA in target tissues has permitted major advances in the treatment of the two most frequent cancers, namely breast and prostate cancer, while its potential use as a physiological HRT could well provide a physiological balance of androgens and estrogens, thus offering exciting possibilities for women's health at menopause.

TL;DR: The various types of human 17β-HSD provide each peripheral cell with the necessary mechanisms to control the level of intracellular androgens and/or estrogens, a new area of hormonal control that the authors call intracrinology.

TL;DR: Steroid hormones, which are synthesized in the adrenal gland, gonads and placenta, exert a large array of biological effects on the nervous system, including development, growth, maturation, and differentiation of the central nervous system.

TL;DR: A second type of cDNA clone (arbitrarily designated type II) encoding 3βHSD is reported after screening of a human adrenal λgt22A library, which predicts a protein of 371 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 41,921 daltons.