Following development of the fetal bipotential gonad into a testis, male genital differentiation requires testicular androgens. Fetal Leydig cells produce testosterone that is converted to dihydrotestosterone in genital skin, resulting in labioscrotal fusion. An alternative “backdoor” pathway of dihydrotestosterone synthesis that bypasses testosterone has been described in marsupials, but its relevance to human biology has been uncertain. The classic and backdoor pathways share many enzymes, but a 3α-reductase, AKR1C2, is unique to the backdoor pathway. Human AKR1C2 mutations cause disordered sexual differentiation, establishing that both pathways are required for normal human male genital development. These observations show that fetal dihydrotestosterone acts both hormonally and as a paracrine factor, substantially revising the classic paradigm for fetal male sexual development.
Cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase (POR) is an enzyme that is essential for multiple metabolic processes; chiefly among them are reactions catalyzed by cytochrome P450 proteins for metabolism of steroid hormones, drugs, and xenobiotics. Mutations in POR cause a complex set of disorders that often resemble defects in steroid metabolizing enzymes 17-hydroxylase, 21-hydroxylase, and aromatase. Since the initial reports of POR mutations in 2004, more than 70 different mutations and polymorphisms in the POR gene have been identified and tested for their effect on activities of several steroid and drug metabolizing P450 proteins. Mutations in POR may have variable effects on different P450 partner proteins depending on the location of the mutation. The POR mutations that disrupt the binding of cofactors have a negative impact on all partner proteins, while mutations causing subtle structural changes may lead to altered interaction with partner proteins and the overall effect may be different for each partner.
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