Expression analysis of estrogen-metabolizing enzymes in human endometrial cancer

Estrogen-dependent endometrial cancer is related to unopposed and prolonged estrogen stimulation. We examined the expression of estrogen-metabolizing enzymes in correlation with the ERalpha and ERbeta estrogen receptors in human endometrial Ishikawa adenocarcinoma cells and in endometrial cancer specimens and adjacent normal endometrium from the same patients. Real-time PCR analysis revealed that both estrogen receptors and selected estrogen-metabolizing enzymes were expressed in the Ishikawa cells and in endometrial tissue. We detected higher expression of ERalpha than ERbeta, higher expression of sulfatase than sulfotransferase and low expression of aromatase in the Ishikawa cells and the tissue, as well as higher levels of type 2 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17beta-HSD) in normal and diseased tissue than in the Ishikawa cells. When we compared the expression in endometrial cancer samples and in the adjacent normal endometrium, ERalpha and ERbeta, sulfatase and sulfotransferase were seen to be downregulated in the majority of the cancerous tissue specimens.