Vitamin D as a regulator of steroidogenic enzymes

Abstract

During the last decades, the outlook on vitamin D has widened, from being a vitamin solely involved in bone metabolism and calcium homeostasis, to being a multifunctional hormone known to affect a broad range of physiological processes. The aim of this review is to summarize the research on vitamin D as a regulator of steroidogenic enzymes. Steroid hormones exert a wide range of physiological responses, including functions in the immune system, protein and carbohydrate metabolism, water and salt balance, reproductive system and development of sexual characteristics. The balance of sex hormones is also of importance in the context of breast and prostate cancer. Steroid hormones are synthesized in steroidogenic tissues such as the adrenal cortex, breast, ovaries, prostate and testis, either from cholesterol or from steroidogenic precursors secreted from other steroidogenic tissues. The hormonally active form of vitamin D has been reported to act as a regulator of a number of enzymes involved in the regulation of steroid hormon production, and thereby the production of both adrenal steroid hormones and sex hormones. The research reviewed in the article has in large part been performed in cell culture based experiments and laboratory animal experiments, and the physiological role of the vitamin D mediated regulation of steroidogenic enzyme need to be further investigated.