Anti-Testosterone monoclonal antibody

Testosterone is a steroid hormone that's made and metabolized in our bodies and the main constituent of androgens. It is generated and released most in association with age by Leydig cells (LCs) in the testis, governed by the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis. The testosterone levels reach an all-time high during puberty when luteinising hormone is being released, then decline as we age. This hormone is needed for sperm and follicle development. It has receptors in the testis, nervous system, heart, kidneys and adrenal glands, and is therefore a critical part of how many tissues and organs work. The fact that testosterone receptors are found throughout the body explains most of its physiological activity.

LCs secrete testosterone in two main ways: basal release and gonadotropin-driven release mediated by the HPGA. The way HPGA control works is this: GnRH-producing neurons in the hypothalamus make GnRH and release GnRH; GnRH slurps through the hypothalamic-pituitary portal system to the anterior pituitary; the anterior pituitary releases FSH and LH; LH triggers LCs to release testosterone via a network of steroidogenic enzymes. LCs have LH receptors on their cell membrane, and these are G protein-coupled. This association activates adenylate cyclase and this leads to proteins such as StAR, P450scc, 3β-HSD. These proteins cooperate to make testosterone from cholesterol. Its testosterone becomes a biologically important precursor to reproductive system development and spermatogenesis.

Figure 1. Regulation and metabolism of testosterone
(Source: Ketchem JM, et al. 2023)

If you lack testosterone, you will suffer from hypogonadism. If testosterone varies beyond normal for healthy men in middle-aged, old men, then late-onset hypogonadism (LOH) is the result. It's a collection of clinical symptoms and signs caused by androgen deprivation. But those symptoms need to be accompanied by a decrease in total and free serum testosterone to be diagnosed with LOH. Low total testosterone is associated with diabetes risk. There have been more population-level studies showing that men with lower endogenous serum testosterone are twice as likely to get diabetes than men with normal testosterone levels, and they have grown over time. As many as 50 per cent of diabetic men lack testosterone. And low testosterone means higher chances of insulin resistance and even type 2 diabetes. Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) is the most used testosterone therapy in men. For pre-pubertal androgen-deprived adolescent boys, the goal of TRT is to elicit and maintain male secondary sexual features, physiology and sex. TRT is mostly used in adult men to restore and sustain libido, sexual activity and secondary sexual traits.

Anti-Testosterone (T) monoclonal antibody