Androgen Signaling in Uterine Diseases: New Insights and New Targets

Biomolecules. 2022 Nov 3;12(11):1624. doi: 10.3390/biom12111624.

Abstract

Common uterine diseases include endometriosis, uterine fibroids, endometrial polyps, endometrial hyperplasia, endometrial cancer, and endometrial dysfunction causing infertility. Patients with uterine diseases often suffer from abdominal pain, menorrhagia, infertility and other symptoms, which seriously impair their health and disturb their lives. Androgens play important roles in the normal physiological functions of the uterus and pathological progress of uterine diseases. Androgens in women are synthesized in the ovaries and adrenal glands. The action of androgens in the uterus is mainly mediated by its ligand androgen receptor (AR) that regulates transcription of the target genes. However, much less is known about the signaling pathways through which androgen functions in uterine diseases, and contradictory findings have been reported. This review summarizes and discusses the progress of research on androgens and the involvement of AR in uterine diseases. Future studies should focus on developing new therapeutic strategies that precisely target specific AR and their related signaling pathways in uterine diseases.

Keywords: androgen; androgen receptor; endometrium; uterine diseases.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Androgens / metabolism
  • Endometrium / metabolism
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infertility* / metabolism
  • Uterine Diseases*
  • Uterus

Substances

  • Androgens

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants 81872111 and 81672562), the National Key Technology R&D Program of China (2019YFC1005200 and 2019YFC1005201), the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Committee of Shanghai outstanding academic leaders plan (19XD1423100), the project of Outstanding Medical Doctor for ZZ, the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission—Gaofeng Clinical Medicine Grant Support (20181713, 20181714), the Shanghai Talent Development Foundation (2019121), the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Committee of Multi-center Clinical Study Project (20Z21900400), the Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center of Translational Medicine (TM202015), the Health care project of Shanghai Pudong New Area Science and Technology Development Fund for Livelihood Research (PKJ2021-Y05), and the scientific research project of the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission (202140279).