Lucki Natasha C, Sewer Marion B
School of Biology and Parker H, Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, Georgia Institute of Technology, 310 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332-0230, USA.
Subcell Biochem. 2008;49:387-412. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4020-8831-5_15.
Steroid hormones are essential regulators of a vast number of physiological processes. The biosynthesis of these chemical messengers occurs in specialized steroidogenic tissues via a multi-step process that is catalyzed by members of the cytochrome P450 superfamily of monooxygenases and hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases. Though numerous signaling mediators, including cytokines and growth factors control steroidogenesis, trophic peptide hormones are the primary regulators of steroid hormone production. These peptide hormones activate a cAMP/cAMP-dependent kinase (PKA) signaling pathway, however, studies have shown that crosstalk between multiple signal transduction pathways and signaling molecules modulates optimal steroidogenic capacity. Sphingolipids such as ceramide, sphingosine, sphingosine-1-phosphate, sphingomyelin, and gangliosides have been shown to control the steroid hormone biosynthetic pathway at multiple levels, including regulating steroidogenic gene expression and activity as well as acting as second messengers in signaling cascades. In this review, we provide an overview of recent studies that have investigated the role of sphingolipids in adrenal, gonadal, and neural steroidogenesis.
类固醇激素是众多生理过程的重要调节因子。这些化学信使的生物合成通过一个多步骤过程在专门的类固醇生成组织中发生，该过程由细胞色素P450单加氧酶超家族和羟基类固醇脱氢酶的成员催化。尽管包括细胞因子和生长因子在内的众多信号介质控制着类固醇生成，但营养肽激素是类固醇激素产生的主要调节因子。这些肽激素激活cAMP/ cAMP依赖性蛋白激酶（PKA）信号通路，然而，研究表明，多种信号转导通路和信号分子之间的相互作用调节着最佳的类固醇生成能力。神经酰胺、鞘氨醇、鞘氨醇-1-磷酸、鞘磷脂和神经节苷脂等鞘脂已被证明在多个水平上控制类固醇激素生物合成途径，包括调节类固醇生成基因的表达和活性，以及在信号级联反应中作为第二信使发挥作用。在这篇综述中，我们概述了最近研究鞘脂在肾上腺、性腺和神经类固醇生成中作用的研究。
