Natural killer cell activity and sex hormone levels in mastopathy

The aim of the study was to test the cytotoxic activity of peripheral blood natural killer (NK) cells in relation to serum levels of sex hormones in patients with mastopathy. The study included 37 patients classified into mastalgia, fibrosis, fibrocystic disease, and fibroadenoma groups and 19 healthy age-matched volunteer women. Estradiol, progesterone, luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and prolactin were evaluated in sera by specific radioimmunoassays. NK cell activity was evaluated by means of 51Cr-release assay. In all patient groups, progesterone levels were significantly decreased. There was also an increased frequency of patients with low levels of estradiol (< 50 pg/ml). On the other hand, LH levels in fibrocystic disease and fibroadenoma groups were significantly increased. NK cell activity was in the normal range in all patient groups. In individual women, NK cell cytotoxicity did not correlate with the levels of the studied hormones. However, in patients with low (< 50 pg/ml) and high (> 200 pg/ml) estradiol levels an increase and a decrease of NK cell activity was observed, respectively. This suggests that in patients with mastopathy, estradiol may directly or indirectly affect NK cell cytotoxicity. High levels of estradiol and low NK cell activity might constitute an increased risk for neoplasia.