title: Serum levels of total dehydroepiandrosterone and total estrone in postmenopausal women with special regard to carcinoma of the uterine corpus.
abstract: Serum levels of total dehydroepiandrosterone and total estrone were determined in 18 postmenopausal women with carcinoma of the uterine corpus (stage I, grade 1-3) and in 40 healthy postmenopausal women. Elevated levels of both steroids were found in the carcinoma group, for dehydroepiandrosterone 2010+/-195 vs. 1299+/-117 nM, p less than 0.01, and for estrone 2,38+/-0.24 vs. 1.36+/-0.11 nM, p less than 0.001. Dehydroepiandrosterone as well as the precursors of estrone are almost exclusively of adrenal origin in the postmenopausal woman. Thus these findings indicate a role of the adrenal cortex in the etiology of corpus carcinoma, either by providing increased levels of substrate for the peripheral synthesis of estrone or a direct action of adrenal androgens on the endometrial tissue.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003687:Dehydroepiandrosterone / Q000097:blood*; D004970:Estrone / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008593:Menopause; D008875:Middle Aged; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D004970:Estrone; D003687:Dehydroepiandrosterone