Human sex hormone-binding globulin gene expression- multiple promoters and complex alternative splicing

Background Human sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) regulates free sex steroid concentrations in plasma and modulates rapid, membrane based steroid signaling. SHBG is encoded by an eight exon-long transcript whose expression is regulated by a downstream promoter (PL). The SHBG gene was previously shown to express a second major transcript of unknown function, derived from an upstream promoter (PT), and two minor transcripts.