Tissue-selectivity: the mechanism of action of tibolone

Abstract

Tibolone is effective in preventing bone loss and treating climacteric symptoms, without stimulating the endometrium. The effects on bone, brain and vagina can be accurately explained by the oestrogenic activity of tibolone, but oestrogenic activity is not expressed in the endometrium. Tibolone behaves differently from oestrogen plus progestogen combinations on the breast. Therefore, tibolone can be characterised as a selective oestrogen activity regulator. The objective of this review is to characterise the typical properties of tibolone in order to explain its tissue-selective action. Tibolone is rapidly converted into three major metabolites: 3α- and 3β-hydroxy-tibolone, which have oestrogenic effects, and the Δ 4-isomer, which has progestogenic and androgenic effects. The 3-hydroxy metabolites are present in the circulation, predominantly in their inactive sulphated form. The tissue-selective effects of tibolone are the result of metabolism, enzyme regulation and receptor activation that vary in different tissues. The bone preserving effects are the result of oestradiol receptor activation, whilst other steroid receptors, notably the progesterone and androgen receptor, are not involved. Breast tissue of monkeys is not stimulated, as occurs with oestrogen plus progestogen, because tibolone and its metabolites inhibit sulphatase and 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (HSD) type I and stimulate sulphotransferase and 17β-HSD type II, the combined effects of which prevent conversion to active oestrogens. In addition, tibolone affects cellular homeostasis in the breast by inhibiting proliferation and stimulating apoptosis. Tibolone does not stimulate the endometrium because of the action of the highly stable progestogenic metabolite (Δ 4-isomer) in combination with an effect on the sulphatase (inhibition)–sulphotransferase (stimulation) system. The oestrogenic metabolites of tibolone have direct favourable effects on the cardiovascular system and, in in vivo models, tibolone has shown no adverse consequences. In conclusion, tibolone shows oestrogenic effects in brain, vagina and bone and has direct oestrogenic effects on the cardiovascular system. In the endometrium, the progestogenic activity of the Δ 4-metabolite and the effect on oestrogen-inactivating enzymes prevent oestrogenic stimulation. The mammary gland is not stimulated in currently used animal models. Tibolone appears to regulate estrogenic activity in the various tissues by influencing the availability of estrogenic compounds for the estradiol receptor in a tissue-selective manner.