Main description:

During the last two decades, progress in steroid hormone research has resulted in the development of new approaches to contraception as well as diagnosis and treatment of endocrine disorders and cancers. Although significant advances have been made in the purification, characterization, immunochemistry and molecular biology of steroid receptors, the precise molecular mechanism of steroid hormone action has remained obscure. This book captures the detailed presentations made at the first conference on Steroid Receptors in Health and Disease held at Meadow Brook Hall, Oakland University in the fall of 1987. The purpose of this international con ference was to facilitate scientific exchange toward a better understand ing of the mode of action of steroid hormones. The scientific sessions consisted of poster presentations and state-of-the-art lectures, the latter of which make up this volume. The first chapter is meant to provide the reader with a more general background of the topics covered in the book, as well as to discuss certain theme-related issues that are either not yet well-established or accepted or are in the stage of infancy. It is hoped that this volume will serve as a useful treatise for students and investigators interested in basic and clinical aspects of biological regulation by steroid hormones. A task of this magnitude could not have been undertaken without the encouragement, advice and continued generous assistance of the members of the scientific committee. I am gratefully indebted to Drs.

Contents:

I. Introduction and Keynote Address.- 1. Steroid Receptors in Health and Disease.- 2. Steroid Receptors: A Historical Perspective.- II. Receptor Structure and Molecular Organization.- 3. Intracellular Localization of Steroid Hormone Receptors: Immunocytochemical Analysis.- 4. Immunocytochemistry of Estrogen and Progestin Receptors in the Primate Reproductive Tract.- 5. Structure, Functional Domains and Subcellular Distribution of Glucocorticoid Receptor.- 6. Hormone-Dependent Phosphorylation of the Avian Progesterone Receptor.- III. Receptor Modifications and Hormone Regulation.- 7. Hormone-Dependent and Hormone-Independent Conformational Transitions of the Estrogen Receptor.- 8. Human Progesterone Receptors A and B: Two Independent, Functional Forms.- 9. Androgen Regulation of Gene Expression: Studies of Ornithine Decarboxylase in Murine Kidney.- 10. Advances in Uterus Estradiol Receptor Phosphorylation on Tyrosine and Preliminary Evidences that Liver Glucocorticoid Receptor Might Be Phosphorylated on Tyrosine.- IV. Receptor Gene Structure and Function.- 11. Functional Analysis of the Estrogen and Progesterone Receptors.- 12. Molecular Determinants of Positive and Negative Regulation by Ligand-Regulated Transcription Factors.- 13. The Mammalian Progesterone Receptor: Cloning, Immunolocalization and Mechanism of Interaction with DNA.- 14. Isolation and Sequence of the Human Glucocorticoid Receptor Gene Promoter. Cloning of the Human Androgen Receptor cDNA.- V. Biochemical Actions and Antihormones.- 15. Estrogen and Antiestrogen Regulation of Proliferation and Protein Synthesis of Human Breast Cancer Cells.- 16. An Estrogen Induced Protease in Breast Cancer: From Basic Research to Clinical Applications.- 17. Nuclear Acceptor Sites: Interaction with Estrogen-Versus Antiestrogen-Receptor Complexes.- 18. Antisteroid Hormones, Receptor Structure and Heat-Shock Protein MW 90,000 (hsp 90).- VI. Pharmacological and Clinical Correlations.- 19. Neural Estrogen and Progestin Receptors and the Neurochemistry of Reproductive Behavior and Sexual Differentiation.- 20. Estrogen Actions on Endometrial Adenocarcinoma.- 21. Structural Features and Clinical Significance of Estrogen Receptors.- 22. The Role of the Ras Oncogene in Human Mammary Cancer.- Author Index.