Review

SF-1 a key player in the development and differentiation of steroidogenic tissues

Pierre Val, Anne-Marie Lefrançois-Martinez, Georges Veyssière and Antoine Martinez

UMR CNRS 6547, Physiologie Comparée et Endocrinologie Moléculaire, Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont II, Complexe Universitaire des Cézeaux, 24 avenue des Landais, 63177 Aubiere Cedex, France

Nuclear Receptor 2003, 1:8doi:10.1186/1478-1336-1-8

Published:	18 September 2003

Abstract

Since its discovery in the early 1990s, the orphan nuclear receptor SF-1 has been attributed a central role in the development and differentiation of steroidogenic tissues. SF-1 controls the expression of all the steroidogenic enzymes and cholesterol transporters required for steroidogenesis as well as the expression of steroidogenesis-stimulating hormones and their cognate receptors. SF-1 is also an essential regulator of genes involved in the sex determination cascade. The study of SF-1 null mice and of human mutants has been of great value to demonstrate the essential role of this factor in vivo, although the complete adrenal and gonadal agenesis in knock-out animals has impeded studies of its function as a transcriptional regulator. In particular, the role of SF-1 in the hormonal responsiveness of steroidogenic genes promoters is still a subject of debate. This extensive review takes into account recent data obtained from SF-1 haploinsufficient mice, pituitary-specific knock-outs and from transgenic mice experiments carried out with SF-1 target gene promoters. It also summarizes the pros and cons regarding the presumed role of SF-1 in cAMP signalling.