Book Description

Sex steroids have important physiological actions, which are not limited to reproductive organs, in both females and males. They exert important physiological roles, including the regulation of somatotropic-liver axis, intermediate metabolism, or gender dimorphism. This is in part because the liver is a sex steroid-responsive organ where sex steroid- and growth hormone (GH)-dependent signaling pathways connect to regulate complex gene expression networks. Sex steroids can impact liver gene expression by a direct, through hepatic estrogen receptor (ER)α and androgen receptor (AR), or indirect mechanisms, by modulation of pituitary GH secretion and/or interaction with the GHR-STAT5b signaling pathway. Therefore, deficiency of sex steroid- and GH-dependent signaling pathways might cause a dramatic impact on mammalian liver physiology. In this chapter, we will focus our attention on main concepts and paradigms involved in the role and interplay between sex steroid- and GH-dependent signaling to regulate gene expression networks in the mammalian liver. A better understanding of how sex steroids and interactions with GH-STAT5b signaling pathway influence physiological and pathological states in the liver will contribute to improve clinical management of patients with disorders in body growth, development, and metabolism.