Structure-activity relationships of phthalates in inhibition of human placental 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1 and aromatase

•Phthalates with 4–6 carbons in alcohol moiety inhibit 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1.•Phthalates with 6 carbons inhibit aromatase.•There are structure-dependent differences for the inhibitions.•Progesterone production appears a more sensitive target than estradiol to phthalate inhibitions. Phthalates are associated with preterm delivery. However, the mechanism is unclear. Progesterone formed by 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1 (HSD3B1) and estradiol by aromatase (CYP19A1) in placenta are critical for maintaining pregnancy. In this study, we compared structure-activity relationships (SAR) of 14 phthalates varied in carbon atoms in alcohol moiety to inhibit human HSD3B1 in COS1 and CYP19A1 in JEG-3 cells. There were responses in that only diphthalates with 4–7 carbon atoms were competitive HSD3B1 inhibitors and diphthalates with 6 carbon atoms were CYP19A1 inhibitors. IC50s of dipentyl (DPP), bis(2-butoxyethyl) (BBOP), dicyclohexyl (DCHP), dibutyl (DBP), and diheptyl phthalate (DHP) were 50.12, 32.41, 31.42, 9.69, and 4.87μM for HSD3B1, respectively. DCHP and BBOP inhibited CYP19A1, with IC50s of 64.70 and 56.47μM. DPP, BBOP, DCHP, DBP, and DHP inhibited progesterone production in JEG-3 cells. In conclusion, our results indicate that there is clear SAR for phthalates in inhibition of HSD3B1 and CYP19A1.