Endocrine Abstracts

Background and aims: Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is an important prohormone and precursor of all sex steroids. DHEA fatty acid esters (DHEA-FAEs) belong to a unique family of naturally occurring hydrophobic steroid hormone derivatives with long-lasting hormonal activity, which are exclusively transported in lipoproteins. In the circulation, DHEA is esterified in a reaction catalyzed by lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase associated with HDL particles. The physiological role...