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Updated: May 11, 2026

Systems Biology of Metabolic Regulation by Estrogen Receptor Signaling in Breast Cancer
Published on: March 17, 2016
Unbalanced estrogen metabolism in thyroid cancer
Muhammad Zahid1, Whitney Goldner, Cheryl L Beseler
1Department of Environmental, Agricultural and Occupational Health, College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE.
Abstract:
Well-differentiated thyroid cancer most frequently occurs in premenopausal women. Greater exposure to estrogens may be a risk factor for thyroid cancer. To investigate the role of estrogens in thyroid cancer, a spot urine sample was obtained from 40 women with thyroid cancer and 40 age-matched controls. Thirty-eight estrogen metabolites, conjugates and DNA adducts were analyzed by using ultraperformance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry and the ratio of adducts to metabolites and conjugates was calculated for each sample. The ratio of depurinating estrogen-DNA adducts to estrogen metabolites and conjugates significantly differed between cases and controls (p < 0.0001), demonstrating high specificity and sensitivity. These findings indicate that estrogen metabolism is unbalanced in thyroid cancer and suggest that formation of estrogen-DNA adducts might play a role in the initiation of thyroid cancer.
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