ArticlePLoS biology2019
The "backdoor pathway" of androgen synthesis in human male sexual development.
Article in PLoS biology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 78 citations in OpenAlex.
- Multi-biomarker models based on the androgen backdoor pathway for diagnosing 17α-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase deficiency.Endocrine · 2026Article
- In vitro models for testicular steroidogenesis: current status and future perspectives.Archives of toxicology · 2026Review
- 3beta-HSD1-mediated steroid back-conversion maintains androgen signaling in prostate cancer.Molecular cancer research : MCR · 2026Article
- Steroid 5α-reductases in the brain: From neurosteroidogenesis to therapeutic implications.Frontiers in neuroendocrinology · 2026Review
- Discovery and development of steroidal enzyme inhibitors as anti-cancer drugs: state-of-the-art and future perspectives.Journal of enzyme inhibition and medicinal chemistry · 2025Review
- The role of androgens on experimental pain sensitivity: a systemic review and meta-analysis.Pain reports · 2025Review
- Multi-Stakeholder Opinion Statement on the Care of Individuals Born with Differences of Sex Development: Common Ground and Opportunities for Improvement.Hormone research in paediatrics · 2025Article
- Compensatory mechanisms that maintain androgen production in mice lacking key androgen biosynthetic enzymes.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2024Article
- Sex and disease severity-based analysis of steroid hormones in ME/CFS.Journal of endocrinological investigation · 2024Article
- Hallmarks of sex bias in immuno-oncology: mechanisms and therapeutic implications.Nature reviews. Cancer · 2024Article
- Fetal Leydig cells: What we know and what we don't.Molecular reproduction and development · 2024Review
- A decrease in serum dihydrotestosterone levels in 9-year-old Vietnamese children from a dioxin exposure area.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2024Article
- An extra-genital cell population contributes to urethra closure during mouse penis development.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Influence of cholesterol on kinetic parameters for human aromatase (P450 19A1) in phospholipid nanodiscs.Journal of inorganic biochemistry · 2023Article
- Genetic control of typical and atypical sex development.Nature reviews. Urology · 2023Review
- Androgen signalling in the ovaries and endometrium.Molecular human reproduction · 2023Review
- Non-steroidal CYP17A1 Inhibitors: Discovery and Assessment.Journal of medicinal chemistry · 2023Review
- Effects of Pregnanolone Glutamate and Its Metabolites on GABAACS chemical neuroscience · 2023Article
- Modeling Human Gonad Development in Organoids.Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine · 2022Article
- Effects of Elevated Maternal Adiposity on Offspring Reproductive Health: A Perspective From Epidemiologic Studies.Journal of the Endocrine Society · 2022Review
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2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Mammalian sex determination (male versus female) is largely controlled by genes, whereas sex differentiation (development of reproductive structures) is largely controlled by hormones. Work in the 20th century indicated that female external anatomy was a "default" pathway of development not requiring steroids, whereas male genital development required testicular testosterone plus dihydrotestosterone (DHT) made in genital skin according to a "classic" pathway. Recent work added the description of an alternative "backdoor" pathway of androgen synthesis discovered in marsupials. Unique "backdoor steroids" are found in human hyperandrogenic disorders, and genetic disruption of the pathway causes disordered male sexual development, suggesting it plays an essential role. O'Shaughnessy and colleagues now show that the principal human backdoor androgen is androsterone and provide strong evidence that it derives from placental progesterone that is metabolized to androsterone in nontesticular tissues. These studies are essential to understanding human sexual development and its disorders.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.