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Expression and regulation of estrogen-converting enzymes in ectopic human endometrial tissue
Sabine Fechner1, Bettina Husen, Hubert Thole
1Institute of Anatomy, University Hospital Essen, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
Objective:
To investigate the regulation of estrogen-converting enzymes in human ectopic endometrial tissue.
Design:
Animal study.
Setting:
Academic medical center.
Animal(S):
Sixty female nude mice with implanted human endometrial tissue.
Patient(S):
Twenty-two premenopausal women undergoing endometrial biopsy or hysterectomy.
Intervention(S):
Human endometrial tissue was implanted into the peritoneal cavity of nude mice, and the effect of therapeutic drugs on transcription of steroid receptors and estrogen-converting enzymes was analyzed.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
Transcript levels of steroid hormone receptors, 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 and 2, aromatase, and steroid sulfatase as well as proliferation rate were analyzed in the human ectopic endometrial tissue.
Result(S):
Steroid receptors and estrogen-converting enzymes were expressed in the ectopic human endometrial fragments. Application of medroxyprogesterone acetate, dydrogesterone, danazol, and the aromatase inhibitor finrozole significantly inhibited aromatase transcription. In addition, danazol caused a significant decrease in transcription of steroid sulfatase, and finrozole, of 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 in parallel to a decrease in proliferation rate in the ectopic human endometrial tissue.
Conclusion(S):
Pharmacological regulation of transcription of estrogen-converting enzymes in human endometrium cultured in nude mice may help to develop new therapeutic concepts based on local regulation of estrogen metabolism in endometriosis.
