Examination of adipose tissue biology may provide important insight into mechanistic links for the observed association between higher body fat and risk of several types of cancer, in particular colorectal and breast cancer. We tested two different methods of obtaining adipose tissue from healthy individuals. Ten overweight or obese (body mass index, 25-40 kg/m(2)), postmenopausal women were re...

Immunohistochemistry is one of the most suitable methods for the detection of intratumoral aromatase in order to identify patients who may respond to aromatase inhibitor therapy in hormone-dependent breast cancer. Previous studies showed statistically significant correlation between results of immnuohistochemistry and biochemical analysis in carcinoma components stained by aromatase monoclonal ...

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are additive flame retardants that have been found in the environment as well as human tissues. Environmental concentrations of these compounds have been increasing in many parts of the world in recent years. Due to their structural similarity, PBDEs are believed to have similar toxicity to PCBs, but their toxicological properties are still being determine...

Using Western blot as the major technique, we studied the effects of the three Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved aromatase inhibitors (AI) on aromatase protein stability in the aromatase-overexpressing breast cancer cell line MCF-7aro. We have found that exemestane treatment significantly reduces aromatase protein level. Exemestane induces aromatase degradation in a dose-responsive ma...

Aromatase, the key enzyme in estrogen biosynthesis, converts androstenedione to estrone and testosterone to estradiol. The enzyme is expressed in various tissues such as ovary, placenta, bone, brain, skin, and adipose tissue. Aromatase enzyme is encoded by a single gene CYP 19A1 and its expression is controlled by tissue-specific promoters. Aromatase mRNA is primarily transcribed from promoter ...

background : to determine the role of letrozole, an aromatase inhibitor,in the treatment of endometriotic pain.   methods: in this prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial in minimallyinvasive surgery research center,51 women with pelvic endometriosis and endometriotic pain (dyspareunia, dysmenorrhea, pelvic pain) score of 5 or more (for at least one of these endometriotic pain), afte...

The murine Leydig cell tumor (M5480A) possesses high levels of estrogen receptor and is known to produce estrogens. In these studies we examined the effects of the potent aromatase inhibitor 4-hydroxyandrostenedione (4-OHA) on Leydig tumor cell steroidogenesis both in vitro and in vivo. The addition of 4-OHA to Leydig tumor cells in primary culture resulted in a dose- and a time-dependent decre...

The estrogen pathway plays an important role in the etiology of human endometrial carcinoma (EC). We examined whether estrogen biosynthesis in the tumor microenvironment promotes endometrial cancer. To examine the contribution of stromal cells to estrogen signaling in EC, we used reporter cells stably transfected with the estrogen response element (ERE) fused to the destabilized green fluoresce...

Human aromatase (CYP19) responsible for the conversion of androgens to estrogens is expressed not only in gonads and adrenals but also in many other tissues, including normal lungs and lung cancers. To investigate the involvement of CYP19 in lung cancer development, purified CYP19 protein and antibody are required. In this study, we have developed an efficient expression method of human aromata...

backgrounds: evidence is accumulating to support disruption of tissue architecture as a powerful event in tumor formation. for the past four decades, intensive cancer research with the premise of “cancer as a cell based-disease” focused on finding oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes. however, the role of the tissue architecture was neglected. three dimensional (3d) cell cultures which can recap...