AASH is a hormone whose existence has been proposed to explain several well-documented situations in which secretion of cortisol and androgen appears to be dissociated.
Prolactin has been invoked as such a factor since hyperprolactinaemia is associated with increased production of DHEA-sulphate in some patients, but this appears to be only a pathological phenomenon. Other largely- discredited agents are growth hormone, oestrogen, and gonadotrophins. It is possible that non-ACTH peptides that are derived from the precursor of ACTH may be involved, but this is still to be established.
