ESPE Abstracts

While steroid hormones as universal signals of intercellular communication arose very early in the evolution of life, it was only recently that their isolation and structural elucidation has been achieved. Steroid hormones are small, structurally closely related molecules sharing the typical 4-cyclic sterane basic structure. However, there is a big diversity of functionally different steroid hormones and their metabolism is complex. Thus, their analysis is highly challenging. Due to the multiplicity of enzymes involved, there is a huge variety of steroid related disorders, which often share clinical signs and symptoms. From a clinical perspective, reliable hormonal determination presents a most reasonable initial diagnostic approach as well as a backbone of monitoring these highly complex patients. From a scientific view, reliable steroid hormone determination is a prerequisite when characterizing new steroid hormone actions. This lecture is aimed at clinicians and scientists alike. After a brief historical review, the principles as well as the pros and cons of the currently most important methods in the analysis of unconjugated and conjugated steroid hormones, such as immunoassay and mass spectrometry based methods will be discussed. The focus of the latter will lie on the currently prevailing hyphenated techniques gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Their application will be illustrated by examples from clinical and scientific practice. Additionally, quality assurance will present another important point. Furthermore, an outlook on future analytical developments will also be given. Hormone analysis is a main pillar of endocrinology. Every clinician or scientist should be familiar with the principles of the methods used. Since reliable steroid hormone analysis requires extremely high expertise both in analytics as well as in steroid biochemistry, collaboration and networking between hormone analysts, clinicians, and scientists are highly advantageous.