Abstract
Hormones such as melatonin whose serum concentrations vary seasonally have been previously implicated in the growth of breast cancer. The present study was undertaken to identify possible seasonal variation in a range of mammotrophic hormones which could exert a chronobiologic influence in women with breast tumours. Fifteen premenopausal women with a history of previous breast cancer (BC subjects) and 10 control women underwent 2-hourly serum sampling for 24 h at both summer and winter solstice for measurement of melatonin, growth hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), cortisol, prolactin and thyrotrophin (TSH). Hormone secretion at the different seasons was compared by measuring the area under the 24 h serum hormone concentration × time curves and by time series analysis of summer-to-winter differences in hormone concentration. Control women had significantly higher GH and IGF-I levels in summer compared to winter and significantly higher cortisol secretion in winter than summer. In contrast, BC women had no significant seasonal difference in IGF-I concentrations and had a reversal of the normal seasonal pattern of melatonin secretion, although seasonal changes in GH production were similar to controls. Prolactin and TSH showed no significant summer/winter variation in either group. Thus, seasonal variations in hormone secretion seen in normal women were, with exception of GH, absent or reversed in women with a previous history of breast cancer. As a result these individuals may be exposed to an asynchronous hormonal stimulus which could influence tumour growth. These changes could reflect a constitutional abnormality in BC women or may have been induced by the previous breast tumour.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Miller WR: Endocrine treatment for breast cancers: biological rationale and current progress. J Steroid Biochem Molec Biol 37: 467–480, 1990
Haus E, Lakatua DJ, Halberg F, Halberg E, Cornelissen G, Sackett LL, Berg HG, Kawasaki T, Ueno M, Uezono K, Matsuoka M, Omae T: Chronobiological studies of plasma prolactin in women in Kyushu, Japan and Minnesota, USA. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 51: 632–640, 1980
Kwa HG, Cleton F, Bulbrook RD, Wang DY, Hayward JL: Plasma prolactin levels and breast cancer: relation to parity, weight and height, and age at first birth. Int J Cancer 28: 31–34, 1981
Emerman JT, Leahy M, Gout PW, Bruchovsky N: Elevated growth hormone levels in sera from breast cancer patients. Horm Metab Res 17: 421–424, 1985
Meyer F, Brown JB, Morrison AS, MacMahon B: Endogenous sex hormones, prolactin, and breast cancer in premenopausal women. J Natl Cancer Inst 77: 613–616, 1986
Henderson BE, Ross RK, Pike MC, Casagrande JT: Endogenous hormones as a major factor in human cancer. Cancer Res 42: 3232–3239, 1982
Kivela A, Kauppila A, Ylostalo P, Vakkuri O, Leppaluoto J: Seasonal, menstrual and circadian secretions of melatonin, gonadotrophins and prolactin in women. Acta Physiol Scand 132: 321–327, 1988
Kauppila A, Kivela A, Pakarinen A, Vakkuri O: Inverse seasonal relationship between melatonin and ovarian activity in humans in a region with a strong seasonal contrast in luminosity. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 65: 823–828, 1987
Holdaway IM, Mason BH, Gibbs EE, Rajasoorya C, Hopkins KD: Seasonal changes in serum melatonin in women with previous breast cancer. Br J Cancer 64: 149–153, 1991
Martikainen H, Tapanainen J, Vakkuri O, Leppaluoto J, Huhtaniemi I: Circannual concentrations of melatonin, gonadotrophins, prolactin and gonadal steroids in males in a geographical area with a large annual variation in daylight. Acta Endocrinol 109: 446–450, 1985
Kauppila A, Pakarinen A, Kirkinen P, Makila U: The effect of season on the circulating concentrations of anterior pituitary, ovarian and adrenal cortex hormones and hormone binding proteins in the subarctic area; evidence of increased activity of the pituitary ovarian axis in spring. Gynecol Endocrinol 1: 137–150, 1987
Scragg R, Jackson R, Holdaway IM, Woollard G, Woollard D: Changes in plasma vitamin levels in the first 48 hours after onset of acute myocardial infarction. Am J Cardiol 64: 971–974, 1989
Bojkowski CJ, Arendt J: Annual changes in 6-sulphatoxy-melatonin excretion in man. Acta Endocrinol 117: 470–476, 1988
Fraser S, Cowen P, Franklin M, Franey C, Arendt J: Direct radioimmunoassay for melatonin in plasma. Clin Chem 29: 396–397, 1983
Goustin AS, Leof EB, Shipley GD, Moses HL: Growth factors and cancer. Cancer Res 46: 1015–1029, 1986
Tamarkin L, Danforth D, Lichter A, DeMoss E, Cohen M, Chabner B, Lippman M: Decreased nocturnal plasma melatonin peak in patients with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. Science 216: 1003–1005, 1982
Bartsch C, Bartsch H, Fuchs U, Lippert TH, Bellmann O, Gupta D: Stage dependent depression of melatonin in patients with primary breast cancer. Cancer 64: 426–433, 1989
Sharma M, Palacios-Bois J, Schwartz G, Iskander H, Thakur M, Quirion R, Nair NPV: Circadian rhythms of melatonin and cortisol in aging. Biol Psychiat 25: 305–319, 1989
Pettorborg LJ, Thalen B-E, Kjellman BF, Wetterberg L: Effect of melatonin replacement on hormone patterns in a patient lacking endogenous melatonin. Proc 71st Meeting of the Endocrine Soc 392, 1989
Konno N, Morikawa K: Seasonal variation of serum thyrotropin concentration and thyrotropin response to thyrotropin-releasing hormone in patients with primary hypothyroidism on constant replacement dosage of thyroxine. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 54: 1118–1124, 1982
Simoni M, Velardo A, Montanini V, Fustini MF, Seghedoni S, Marrama P: Circannual rhythm of plasma thyrotropin in middle-aged and old euthryroid subjects. Horm Res 33: 184–189, 1990
Rudolf MC, Zadik Z, Linn S, Hochberg Z: Seasonal variation in growth during growth hormone therapy. Am J Dis Child 145: 769–772, 1991
Minuto F, Underwood LE, Grimaldi P, Furlanetto RW, Van Wyk JJ, Giordano G: Decreased serum somatomedin C concentrations during sleep: temporal relationship to the nocturnal surges of growth hormone and prolactin. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 52: 399–403, 1981
Cotterill AM, Taylor AM, Preece MA, Savage MO: Circadian variation in somatomedin activity (SmC) and insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPS) in Laron type dwarfism (LTD). Proc 72nd Meeting of the Endocrine Soc 206, 1990
Reinberg A, Lagoguey M, Sothern RB, Halbert G: Variations in plasma TSH and GH and urinary vanillyl-mandelic acid (VMA) and paramandelic acid (PMA) excretion by healthy men. Chronobiologica 7: 277–278, 1980
Cohen P, Wax Y, Modan B: Seasonality in the occurrence of breast cancer. Cancer Res 43: 892–896, 1983
Mason BH, Holdaway IM, Mullins PR, Kay RG, Skinner SJ: Seasonal variation in breast cancer detection: correlation with tumour progesterone receptor status. Breast Cancer Res Treat 5: 171–176, 1985
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Holdaway, I., Mason, B., Gibbs, E. et al. Seasonal variation in the secretion of mammotrophic hormones in normal women and women with previous breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 42, 15–22 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005743626105
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005743626105