Androgen, estrogen, and progesterone by a lipid cell tumor of theovary

In a 64-year-old woman with a virilizing lipid-cell tumor of the left ovary, serum progesterons, androgens, estrogens, and cortisol levels in the peripheral and ovarian veins were measured. Although virilization was the only symptom of hormone production by the tumor in this patient, endocrine studies showed that several steroids were secreted by this neoplasm. Of the steroids measured, androstenedione was the principal secretory product. Pregnenolone, 17-hydroxypregnenolone, 17-hydroxyprogesterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, and testosterone were also secreted, but in quantities which were one third to one sixth the amount of androstenedione. The tumor's pattern of hormone secretion was similar to patterns of steroid production by ovarian stromal cells found in previously reported in vitro studies. This case and a review of the literature demonstrate that androstenedione appears to be the predominant secretory product of lipid cell tumors, whereas testosterone is the predominant secretory product of hilus cell tumors.