Yazawa Takashi, Imamichi Yoshitaka, Miyamoto Kaoru, Khan Md Rafiqul Islam, Uwada Junsuke, Umezawa Akihiro, Taniguchi Takanobu
1 Department of Biochemistry, Asahikawa Medical University, Hokkaido 078-8510, Japan.
2 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, Fukui 910-1193, Japan.
Zoolog Sci. 2015 Aug;32(4):323-30. doi: 10.2108/zs140237.
Steroidogenic factor-1 (SF-1) and liver receptor homolog-1 (LRH-1) belong to the nuclear receptor superfamily and are categorized as orphan receptors. In addition to other nuclear receptors, these play roles in various physiological phenomena by regulating the transcription of target genes. Both factors share very similar structures and exhibit common functions. Of these, the roles of SF-1 and LRH-1 in steroidogenesis are the most important, especially that of SF-1, which was originally discovered and named to reflect such roles. SF-1 and LRH-1 are essential for steroid hormone production in gonads and adrenal glands through the regulation of various steroidogenesis-related genes. As SF-1 is also necessary for the development of gonads and adrenal glands, it is also considered a master regulator of steroidogenesis. Recent studies have clearly demonstrated that LRH-1 also represents another master regulator of steroidogenesis, which similarly to SF-1, can induce differentiation of non-steroidogenic stem cells into steroidogenic cells. Here, we review the functions of both factors in these steroidogenesis-related phenomena.
类固醇生成因子-1（SF-1）和肝脏受体同源物-1（LRH-1）属于核受体超家族，被归类为孤儿受体。除其他核受体外，它们通过调节靶基因的转录在各种生理现象中发挥作用。这两种因子结构非常相似，功能也相同。其中，SF-1和LRH-1在类固醇生成中的作用最为重要，尤其是SF-1，它最初就是因其在类固醇生成中的作用而被发现并命名的。SF-1和LRH-1通过调节各种与类固醇生成相关的基因，对性腺和肾上腺中类固醇激素的产生至关重要。由于SF-1对性腺和肾上腺的发育也必不可少，因此它也被认为是类固醇生成的主要调节因子。最近的研究清楚地表明，LRH-1同样也是类固醇生成的另一个主要调节因子，与SF-1类似，它也能诱导非类固醇生成干细胞分化为类固醇生成细胞。在此，我们综述这两种因子在这些与类固醇生成相关的现象中的功能。
