Often used as a cancer treatment in postmenopausal women, AIs work by blocking the conversion of androstenedione and testosterone into estrone and estradiol, respectively, which are both crucial to the growth of developing breast cancers (AIs are also effective at treating ovarian cancer, but less commonly so). In the diagram, the adrenal gland (1) releases androstenedione (3) while the ovaries (2) secrete testosterone (4). Both hormones travel to peripheral tissues or a breast cell (5), where they would be converted into estrone (8) or estradiol (9) if not for AIs (7), which prevent the enzyme CYP19A1 (also known as<unk>  or estrogen synthase) (6) from catalyzing the reaction that turns androstenedione and testosterone into estrone and estradiol. In the diagram, Part A represents the successful conversion of androstenedione and testosterone into estrone and estradiol in the liver. Part B represents the blockage of this conversion by<unk> s both in peripheral tissues and in the breast tumor itself.<unk> s work by inhibiting the action of the enzyme<unk> , which converts androgens into estrogens by a process called aromatization. As breast tissue is stimulated by estrogens, decreasing their production is a way of suppressing recurrence of the breast tumor tissue. The main source of estrogen is the ovaries in premenopausal women, while in post-menopausal women most of the body's estrogen is produced in peripheral tissues (outside the CNS), and also a few CNS sites in various regions within the brain. Estrogen is produced and acts locally in these tissues, but any circulating estrogen, which exerts systemic estrogenic effects in men and women, is the result of estrogen escaping local metabolism and spreading to the circulatory system.
Aromatase inhibitor
Antiandrogen
5α-Reductase inhibitor
Antiestrogen
N-Terminal domain antiandrogen
Selective androgen receptor modulator
Selective estrogen receptor degrader
Selective androgen receptor degrader