The distribution of alpha inhibin and alpha glutathione S-transferase (delta4-5 isomerase) in the ovaries of patients with endometrial carcinoma.
Estrogen is to thought to play a role in the pathogenesis of low grade but not high grade endometrial carcinomas. The dominant circulating estrogen in post menopausal women is estrone which is formed by aromatization of androstenedione. delta4-5 isomerase, active in the conversion of dehydroepiandrosterone to androstenedione, may be demonstrated immunohistochemically by the antibody to alpha glutathione S-transferase (alphaGST). Inhibin, normally acting to suppress FSH secretion, also has an LH-dependent paracrine stimulatory effect on ovarian stromal cells to produce androstenedione. The purpose of this study was to compare the distributions of alphaGST and alpha inhibin in the ovaries of patients with low grade and high grade endometrial carcinomas. The results show a statistically significant increase in intracytoplasmic alphaGST staining in patients with low grade endometrioid adenocarcinomas compared to high grade carcinomas. There was also a statistically significant correlation between the distribution of alphaGST and alpha inhibin. These findings lend some support to the hypothesis that estrogen plays a role in the pathogenesis of low grade carcinomas; that the increase in estrone is partly due to increased production of androstenedione by the ovary and that this increased production could be the consequence of increased inhibin paracrine activity.
Department of Anatomical Pathology, School of Pathology, South African Institute for Medical Research and University of Witwatersrand, Johnnesburg, South Africa.
A. J.
AJ
Tiltman
U.
U
Allard