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Influence of estrogen metabolism on proliferation of human breast cancer

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Abstract

In order to investigate the influence of estrogenmetabolism on human breast cancer, estradiol 2- and16α-hydroxylase (2- and 16α-OHase) activities were determined inthe microsomal fractions of cancer tissues by usingreverse phase HPLC. 2-OHase activity was detected inmost cancer tissues and noncancerous tissues, but theactivity was significantly lower in cancer tissues thanin the paired noncancerous tissues (0.01 < p< 0.02). Interestingly the patients without lymph nodemetastasis had significantly higher 2-OHase activity in cancertissues than those with lymph node metastasis (0.02< p < 0.05). No correlation was observedbetween ER status and 2-OHase activity in cancertissues. On the other hand, 16α-OHase activity wasdetected only in one third of the breastcancer tissues examined. The activity was not significantlydifferent from that in noncancerous tissues, although itwas relatively higher in ER-positive cancer tissues whencompared with that in ER-negative ones (0.05 <p < 0.1). Estrone sulfatase activity measured simultaneouslyin the cytosol fractions of some specimens wasmuch higher in cancer tissues than in noncanceroustissues (0.02 < p < 0.05). We found,however, no correlation between estrone sulfatase activity andestradiol hydroxylase activity. Taken together, our results suggestthat the increase in 2-OHase activity prevents theproliferation of breast cancer and that estradiol metabolismis regulated independently of the local biosynthesis ofestrogen.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Kashiwa, Chiba

    Shigeru Imoto

  2. Department of Biochemistry, Keio University, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Fumiko Mitani & Yuzuru Ishimura

  3. Surgery, School of Medicine, Keio University, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Kohji Enomoto, Kiyoshi Fujiwara, Tadashi Ikeda & Masaki Kitajima

Authors
  1. Shigeru Imoto
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  2. Fumiko Mitani
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  3. Kohji Enomoto
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  4. Kiyoshi Fujiwara
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  5. Tadashi Ikeda
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  6. Masaki Kitajima
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  7. Yuzuru Ishimura
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Imoto, S., Mitani, F., Enomoto, K. et al. Influence of estrogen metabolism on proliferation of human breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 42, 57–64 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:BREA.0000010495.08233.09

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