THE USE OF Δ⁵-PREGNENOLONE IN VARIOUS CLINICAL DISORDERS*

Abstract

THE clinical effectiveness of cortisone and pituitary adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) in rheumatoid arthritis and allied collagen diseases has stimulated the investigation of more easily derived steroids in these conditions. The possibility exists that certain steroids, even though not themselves hormonally active, may be converted in the human organism to materials which are useful in the treatment of the aforementioned diseases. With this in mind we have administered the steroid, Δ5-pregnenolone (17-ethyl-Δ5-androstene-3β-ol-20-one), to a group of 59 patients Δ5-Pregnenolone, hereinafter simply designated pregnenolone, is the 3-hydroxy analogue of progesterone, and can be obtained during the oxidative preparation of the latter hormone (1, 2, 3). It was first prepared chemically by Butenandt (4) in 1934, and was obtained by extraction from hog testes in 1943 by Ruzicka (5), and in 1948 by Kuizenga (6). Despite its relatively early synthesis, data regarding its action have accumulated slowly. They have been well summarized in the review of Henderson, Weinberg and Wright (7).