Molecular Interactions of Progesterone Derivatives with 5α-Reductase Types 1 and 2 and Androgen Receptors

This review highlights the challenges in screening for steroid 5 alpha-reductase inhibitors and discusses significant variability in the effectiveness of finasteride and dutasteride, calling for standardized testing methods to develop safer, more specific inhibitors from herbal preparations.

This study found that novel compounds moderately inhibited 5α-reductase type 1 activity compared to finasteride, offering valuable data on structure-activity relationships.

This study found that specific steroids, particularly 5 and 7b, decreased growth of prostate and seminal vesicles and bound to the androgen receptor, showing comparable pharmacological activity to finasteride.

This review describes the roles of 5α-reductase isozymes in prostate development and pathology and reports no new clinical results.

This study found that finasteride effectively inhibits the enzymatic activity of human steroid 5 alpha reductase type II in newly established CHO cell lines.

This study found that two new progesterone derivatives showed higher antiandrogenic effects and 5α-reductase inhibition than finasteride in hamsters, particularly reducing seminal vesicle weight and flank organ size.