[Estrogen receptors in meningiomas and neurinomas (author's transl)]

In the brain tumors hormone dependency has long been suggested from the evidence that meningiomas and neurinomas are frequently seen in female and that they enlarge during pregnancy presumably as a result of hormonal change. Recently the presence of estrogen receptor (ER) in meningiomas, neurinomas and pituitary adenomas were documented in some preliminary reports. In this report we estimated the ER in the tissue of 15 patients with meningiomas (13 females and 2 males) and 5 with neurinomas (2 females and 3, males). The estrogen receptor level was determined by Scatchard analysis. The results were obtained as follows: In meningiomas, 80% (4/5) of premenopausal females, 25% (2/8) of postmenopausal females and 0% (0/2) of males had receptor activity. Maximal binding sites (Bm; fmol/mg cytosol protein) and dissociation constant (Kd; x 10(-10)M) are as follows: Bm=20.8+/-12.2 (premenopause; n=4) or 22.8 (postmenopause; n=2) and Kd=2.8+/-0.7 (premenopause) or 6.9 (postmenopause). In neurinoma, 33% (1/3) of males and 0% (0/2) of females had receptor activity. Bm and Kd are as follows: Bm=25.0 and Kd=2.3. The ER detectable rate in meningiomas was much higher in premenopausal females. There was a suggestion that some brain tumors are responsible to estrogen via cellular estrogen receptor.