Cytochrome P450 17A1 Inhibitors

CYP17A1 is the steroid 17-alpha-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase, a cytochrome P450 of corticoid and androgen biosynthesis: it 17-alpha-hydroxylates C21 steroids, a step common to both pathways, and then performs the acyl-carbon cleavage that androgen synthesis additionally requires. Drugs in this class block that enzyme, so androgen and cortisol precursor supply falls. Unlike the drug-metabolising CYP classes, membership here is about suppressing steroid synthesis rather than about drug interactions.