Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Reproductive endocrinology

Functional effects of sex hormone-binding globulin variants

Nature Reviews Endocrinology volume 10, pages 516–517 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

A new study has found eight single nucleotide polymorphisms in sex hormone-binding globulin that functionally affect its affinity for androgens or estrogens and other biochemical properties. This finding adds to growing concern about the 'one size fits all' approach in formulas to calculate free or bioavailable concentrations of estradiol and testosterone.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. de Ronde, W. et al. Serum levels of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) are not associated with lower levels of non-SHBG-bound testosterone in male newborns and healthy adult men. Clin. Endocrinol. (Oxf.) 62, 498–503 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Rosner, W., Auchus, R. J., Azziz, R., Sluss, P. M. & Raff, H. Position statement: Utility, limitations, and pitfalls in measuring testosterone: an Endocrine Society position statement. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 92, 405–413 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Vermeulen, A., Verdonck, L. & Kaufman, J. M. A critical evaluation of simple methods for the estimation of free testosterone in serum. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 84, 3666–3672 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Wu, T. S. & Hammond, G. L. Naturally occurring mutants inform SHBG structure and function. Mol. Endocrinol. 28, 1026–1038 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Hammond, G. L., Wu, T. S. & Simard, M. Evolving utility of sex hormone-binding globulin measurements in clinical medicine. Curr. Opin. Endocrinol. Diabetes Obes. 19, 183–189 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Ohlsson, C. et al. Genetic determinants of serum testosterone concentrations in men. PLoS Genet. 7, e1002313 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Hogeveen, K. N. et al. Human sex hormone-binding globulin variants associated with hyperandrogenism and ovarian dysfunction. J. Clin. Invest. 109, 973–981 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Vos, M. J., Mijnhout, G. S., Rondeel, J. M., Baron, W. & Groeneveld, P. H. Sex hormone binding globulin deficiency due to a homozygous missense mutation. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. http://dx.doi.org/10.1210/jc.2014-2055.

  9. Khosla, S. Editorial: Sex hormone binding globulin: inhibitor or facilitator (or both) of sex steroid action? J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 91, 4764–4766 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Labrie, F. All sex steroids are made intracellularly in peripheral tissues by the mechanisms of intracrinology after menopause. J. Steroid Biochem. Mol. Biol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsbmb.2014.06.001.

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank F. Claessens, B. Decallonne and L. Antonio for helpful discussions related to this work. M.R.L. is a PhD Fellow funded by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). D.V. is a Senior Clinical Investigator funded by clinical research funds of the University Hospitals Leuven. The authors would like to acknowledge the support of grant G.0854.13N from the Research Foundation Flanders.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Molecular Endocrinology, Gerontology and Geriatrics, KU Leuven and University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49 PO Box 902, Leuven, 3000, Belgium

    Michaël R. Laurent

  2. Clinical and Experimental Endocrinology, KU Leuven and University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49 PO Box 902, Leuven, 3000, Belgium

    Dirk Vanderschueren

Authors
  1. Michaël R. Laurent
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Dirk Vanderschueren
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dirk Vanderschueren.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Laurent, M., Vanderschueren, D. Functional effects of sex hormone-binding globulin variants. Nat Rev Endocrinol 10, 516–517 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2014.120

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2014.120

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing