Androgeenset

Androgeenset is a term used in biology to denote a curated collection of genes whose expression is modulated by androgens, particularly through the androgen receptor. The concept serves as a shorthand for the androgen-responsive transcriptional program and is employed in genomics to compare how different tissues, species, or experimental conditions respond to androgen signaling.

The composition of an androgeenset typically includes genes with demonstrated androgen receptor binding or androgen response element enrichment, identified through methods such as ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq, and differential expression analyses. Sets may be defined broadly or tailored to a specific context, such as a developmental stage, sex, or disease model. Because androgen responses are context-dependent, multiple versions of an androgeenset may exist for a given system.

In research, androgeensets are used with gene set enrichment analyses to detect enrichment of androgen-responsive pathways in transcriptomic data, to interpret effects of androgen therapies, or to compare androgen signaling across conditions. They can aid in identifying candidate genes for functional studies and in understanding mechanisms underlying conditions with altered androgen signaling, such as certain cancers, metabolic disorders, and developmental processes.

Limitations include tissue-specificity, dose and timing dependence, and cross-talk with other hormonal pathways; the term is not universally standardized and different groups may define the gene set differently. See also androgen receptor, androgen response elements, and gene set enrichment analysis.