Review: The mechanism of action of danazol, a novel steroid derivative

G. Jenkin, Graham Jenkin, Jenkin G
The Australian & New Zealand journal of obstetrics & gynaecology · 1980 · vol. 20(2) , pp. 113–118 · doi:10.1111/j.1479-828x.1980.tb00107.x · PMID:6998453 · W2140290341
Review OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 25 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This review suggests danazol acts directly on target tissues to inhibit them, explaining its diverse therapeutic effects beyond pituitary antigonadotropic activity.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

Danazol is being increasingly used for the treatment of a wide range of disorders, many of which appear to bear little relation to the condition for which the drug was originally marketed--endometriosis. It has been claimed that this drug acts by means of its antigonadotrophic effects on the pituitary; however, a review of the literature reveals that its efficacy in suppressing normal endometrial growth and in causing atrophy of deposits of endometrium cannot be explained solely on this basis. Recent information indicates that, besides acting at the pituitary level, a major mechanism of action may be by a direct inhibitory effect on target tissue. It is sugggested that such a mechanism would more readily account for the diverse effects of this drug in the treatment of many disorders, all of which appear to be associated with an imbalanced sensitivity of target organs to steroid hormones. A greater understanding of its mechanism of action could lead to an even wider application of this novel drug.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Danazol Pregnadienes Danazol Danazol Danazol Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Female Gonadotropins, Pituitary Gonadotropins, Pituitary Gonadotropins, Pituitary Humans Humans Pregnadienes Pregnadienes Receptors, Steroid Receptors, Steroid Receptors, Steroid

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (42)

Cited by (23)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-10-12T06:17:10.165071+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T21:58:32.052686+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-10-12T06:33:14.382917+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK