Steroid Hormones and Cancer

Abstract

It is clear that certain neoplasms are not wholly autonomous and may under specific circumstances be temporarily returned by hormone therapy to the jurisdiction of the normal controls on cell growth and division. One biochemical approach to the problem of cancer involves the study of the mode of action of steroid hormones and the nature of the interaction between the hormone and its target site in the cell. Fundamental in such studies is the identification of structural features in the target site which enable it to distinguish closely related compounds from one another. Two experimental models are described which together with X-ray crystallography make it possible to construct a theoretical model of the binding site on a protein molecule which interacts with a steroid hormone. The experiments provide a small beginning to the definition of the sites on macromolecules that recognise steroid hormones and are involved in their action. Through the combined efforts of steroid and protein biochemists further advances in this field may yield information which may be applied directly to the problem of preventing or retarding the growth of neoplasms.