Disruption of gonadal function is associated with a variety of reproductive health concerns and contributes to the increasing rate of infertility. Gonads are the major source of active sex steroids during reproductive years. Estrogens are being synthesized mainly in the ovaries and androgens in the testis. We are interested in the regulation of the tightly connected mechanisms of steroid synthesis and gonadal function and further, the androgen regulation of accessory sex glands, namely epididymis. Furthermore, we are interested in studying how androgen receptor activity is regulated by post-translational modifications and co-regulators in the epididymis and subsequent effects on epididymal gene expression and sperm maturation
PIs: Petra Sipilä, PhD, adjunct professor; Leena Strauss, PhD, adjunct professor; Matti Poutanen, PhD, professor
Members involved
Postdoctoral Researchers: Guillermo Martinez-Nieto, PhD
Doctoral candidates: Arttu Junnila, MSc.
Graduate student: Inka Raimoranta, BSc.
Technicians: Jenni Airaksinen
Selected publications about the research
Sipilä P, Junnila A, Hakkarainen J, Huhtaniemi R, Mairinoja L, Zhang FP, Strauss L, Ohlsson C, Kotaja N, Huhtaniemi I, Poutanen M. The lack of HSD17B3 in male mice results in disturbed Leydig cell maturation and endocrine imbalance akin to humans with HSD17B3 deficiency. FASEB J. 2020 May;34(5):6111-6128.
Zhang F-P, Malinen M, Mehmood A, Lehtiniemi T, Jääskeläinen T, Niskanen EA, Korhonen H, Laiho A, Elo L, Ohlsson C, Kotaja N, Poutanen M, Sipilä P*, Palvimo J.* Lack of androgen receptor SUMOylation results in male infertility due to epididymal dysfunction. Nature Communications 2019 Feb 15;10(1):777, * equal contribution
Hakkarainen J, Zhang F-P, Cisneros Montalvo S, Nurmio M, Toppari J, Ohlsson C, Kotaja N, Sipilä P, Poutanen M. Hydroxysteroid (17β) dehydrogenase 1 expressed by Sertoli cells contributes to steroid synthesis and is required for male fertility. FASEB J 2018 32:3229-3241
Mayer C, Adam M, Walenta L, Schmid N, Heikelä H, Schubert K, Flenkenthaler F, Dietrich KG, Gruschka S, Arnold GJ, Fröhlich T, Schwarzer JU, Köhn FM, Strauss L, Welter H, Poutanen M, Mayerhofer A. Insights into the role of androgen receptor in human testicular peritubular cells. Andrology. 2018 Sep;6(5):756-765.
Björkgren I, Gylling H, Turunen H, Huhtaniemi I, Strauss L, Poutanen M, Sipilä P. Imbalanced lipid homeostasis in the conditional Dicer1 knockout mouse epididymis causes instability of the sperm membrane. FASEB J. 2015 Feb;29(2):433-42.