Aromatase in Human Breast Carcinoma as a Key Regulator of Intratumoral Sex Steroid Concentrations

Endocrine Journal

Hironobu SASANO³  Takashi SUZUKI¹  Takuya MORIYA⁴  Jun-ichi AKAHIRA³  Noriaki OHUCHI²  Yasuhiro MIKI³ 

[1] Department of Pathology, Tohoku University School of Health Sciences;Department of Surgical Oncology, Tohoku University School of Medicine;Department of Pathology, Tohoku University School of Medicine;Department of Pathology 2, Kawasaki Medical School

关键词: Androgen;    Aromatase;    Breast carcinoma;    Estrogen;   

DOI  :  10.1507/endocrj.K07E-053

学科分类：内分泌与代谢学

来源: Japan Endocrine Society

【 摘 要 】

References(57)Cited-By(17)It is well-known that estrogens are closely involved in the growth of human breast carcinomas, and that the great majority of breast carcinoma express estrogen receptors. Recent studies have demonstrated that estrogens are locally produced and act on the breast carcinoma tissue. Among these pathways, aromatase is a key enzyme for intratumoral production of estrogens in breast carcinomas, and aromatase inhibitors are currently used in the breast carcinoma in postmenopausal women as an estrogen deprivation therapy. This review summarizes the results of recent studies on the expression and regulation of aromatase in breast carcinoma tissues, and discusses the potential biological and/or clinical significance of aromatase. Aromatase is abundantly expressed in various cell types, such as carcinoma cells, intratumoral stromal cells, and adipocytes adjacent to the carcinoma, in breast carcinoma tissues. Further, a key regulator for aromatase expression differed according to cell type. In addition, aromatase suppressed in situ production of bioactive androgen, 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT), in breast carcinoma. Aromatase inhibitors may thus have additional antiproliferative effects through increasing local DHT concentration with estrogen deprivation.

【 授权许可】

Unknown