| Summary: | Background and objective: Luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone
agonists (LHRHa) suppress gonadal hormone production and are commonly used to
treat prostate cancer (PC) in men and conditions ranging from uterine fibroids to
estrogen-sensitive cancers in women. They are also used to delay sexual
development in children considering gender reassignment or experiencing premature
puberty. As chemically castrating agents, LHRHa may affect cutaneous steroid
secretions, which, in turn, could alter body odor and influence the psycho-sexual
dynamics between individuals. The objectives of the present study were to
determine (1) if LHRHa indeed alter cutaneous skin secretions, and (2) whether this
leads to perceivable changes in body odor.
Material and methods: Axillary skin secretions were collected
on new cotton T-shirts worn by men undergoing androgen deprivation therapy with
an LHRHa to treat PC (n = 10), both before starting the LHRHa and 3 months later.
Healthy heterosexual university students (50 males, 50 females) were recruited to
smell and rate the shirts for their masculinity, attractiveness, and intensity of
odor. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was also used to analyze
steroids extracted from the shirt samples.
Results: LC-MS showed a statistically significant decline in
the concentration of the androgenic metabolites, androsterone and
5α-androstane-3,17-dione. This confirms that LHRHa drugs that suppress
gonadal hormone production markedly reduce cutaneous secretion of androgenic
metabolic intermediates in adult males. However, no differences in odor were
detected in the ratings of the shirts by male, female, nor male and female raters
combined for any of the three variables assessed. Possible reasons why the human
sniffers failed to perceive a change in odor are explored.
Conclusion: Our data document that LHRHa alter steroid skin
secretions in older men, but whether such changes alter the olfactory signals
that might influence psychosocial interactions remains unresolved.
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