[Interrelation of sex hormone-binding globulin and the androgen-estrogen balance in patients with hypercorticism].

The concentration of testosterone and estradiol in the blood plasma and the binding capacity of testosterone-estradiol binding globulin (TEBG) were studied in 30 women and 6 men with Icenko-Cushing's disease in the active phase and in 24 women with hormonally active adrenal tumors. In hypercorticism against a background of unchanged of lowered concentration of plasma estradiol there was a decrease in the concentration of testosterone and an increase in the testosterone-estradiol binding capacity (TEBC) in men and an increase in the concentration of testosterone and a decrease in TEBC in women. The authors have assumed that the testosterone/TEBC ratio reflects more accurately change in the dynamics of androgens than isolated concentrations of testosterone and TEBG, and recommended its determination for the assessment of the body androgenic saturation in disturbed function of the adrenal or sex glands.