immunohistochemical analysis of estrogen and progesterone receptor expression in gingival lesions

some lesions in the oral cavity and mostly on gingiva have predominant predilection towards females, and mostly occur in the first four decades of life when changes in sex hormone levels in blood are obvious. the present study aimed to investigate the presence and distribution of estrogen and progesterone receptors in peripheral giant cell granuloma (pgcg), pyogenic granuloma (pg) and peripheral ossifying fibroma (pof) on gingiva as an organ target. in a descriptive case series study from march 2002 to april 2003, paraffin blocks from patients with exophitic lesion on gingiva, diagnosed by histopathology as pgcg, pg or pof at dentistry faculty of tehran university of medical sciences (tums), iran, were analyzed with immunohistochemical (ihc) technique. the data analysis was performed by frequency and descriptive statistics. of 35 patients, 12 estrogen receptors (ers) and progesterone receptors (prs) were detected. nine of them were prs and three were ers. two third of ers/ prs were seen in females and one third in males, respectively. in order of decreasing frequency the ers and prs were found in pg (n=6), pof (n=4) and pgcg (n=2). in this study, er/ pr were revealed in three lesions. pr was detected in all of three lesions but we could not see er in pgcg. thus, gingiva may be considered as a target organ for sex hormones.