[Lipid peroxidation in endometrial cancer tissue: connection with hormonal sensitivity and hormonal cancerogenesis]

Tumor tissue sampled from 88 patients with carcinoma of the corpus uteri was compared with the ostensibly normal tissue of the endometrium taken from 21 cases of uterine fibromyoma. The levels of malonic dialdehyde--a by-product of lipids peroxidation (LP)--in tumor tissue was slightly lower at basal conditions, and higher than in normal endometrium, following in vitro stimulation with ascorbates and, especially, NADP. An average LP rate in endometrial tumor (stage II-III) tissue was higher than in cases of stage I tumor. However, a direct correlation was observed between LP rates and estrogen and progesterone receptor levels in tumor tissue, while the former depended on the degree of tumor invasion little, if at all. It is suggested that LP rate variation in endometrial carcinoma tissue may be due to a spectrum of causes. Some of them may be associated with an accelerated and, possibly, highly pernicious course of the disease, while the others--with free radicals reactions being involved in hormonal carcinogenesis mechanisms.