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Expression of Types 1, 2, and 3 17ß-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase in Subcutaneous Abdominal and Intra-Abdominal Adipose Tissue of Women

Department of Medicine, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia, 5042, Australia

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Raymond J. Rodgers, Department of Medicine, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia, 5042, Australia.

Human adipose tissue is known to have 17ß-oxidoreductase activity, interconverting estrone (E₁) and estradiol (E₂), as well as androstenedione (A) and testosterone (T). We examined both the subcutaneous abdominal and intra-abdominal (visceral) adipose tissue of women for expression of types 1, 2, and 3 17ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17ß-HSD) using ribonuclease (RNase) protection assay and RT-PCR/Southern blotting. Type 1 17ß-HSD, which encodes the enzyme responsible for the conversion of E₁ to E₂ in the placenta and ovary, was expressed in the subcutaneous abdominal and intra-abdominal adipose tissue of women, but the messenger RNA transcripts were predominantly incompletely spliced and therefore unlikely to encode an active protein. A pseudogene for type 1 17ß-HSD was also expressed in these tissues, but messenger RNA transcripts were again unspliced. Type 2 17ß-HSD, which encodes an enzyme that can catalyze the conversion of T to A and E₂ to E₁, was expressed in both the subcutaneous abdominal and intra-abdominal adipose tissue of women. Type 3 17ß-HSD was also expressed in adipose tissue from both sites studied. Type 3 17ß-HSD encodes the enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of A to T in the testis and also converts E₁ to E₂. Together with aromatase, which is known to be expressed in adipose tissue, the expression of types 2 and 3 17ß-HSD indicates that sex steroid production in the adipose tissue of women is a complex process. The association of visceral obesity with the development of insulin resistance and dyslipidaemia raises the question of the role of steroid production in adipose tissue in the pathogenesis of these disorders.

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