Transgender hormone therapy (male-to-female) males is associated with higher serum estrogen. Both estrogen and testosterone help to stimulate bone formation, especially during puberty. Estrogen is the predominant sex hormone that slows bone loss, even in men. In spite of the induction of breast development, transgender women who undergo HRT do not have an increased risk of breast cancer. Only a handful of cases of breast cancer have ever been described in transgender women who have undergone male-to-female HRT. This is in accordance with research in cisgender men in which gynecomastia has been found not to be associated with an increased risk of breast cancer,
Steroid hormone balance, development of sexual characteristics, and the ability to withstand illness and injury. The term steroid describes both hormones produced by the body and artificially produced medications that duplicate the action for the naturally occurring steroids. The natural steroid hormones are generally synthesized from cholesterol in the gonads and adrenal glands. These forms of hormones are lipids. They can pass through the cell membrane as they are fat-soluble, and then bind to steroid hormone receptors (which may be nuclear or cytosolic depending on the steroid hormone) to bring about changes within the cell. Steroid hormones are generally carried in the