Hormone receptors in benign intracranial meningiomas.
OBJECTIVE
Although some embryologic data suggest that the neural crest elements, which are not a target tissue for estrogen and progesterone, participate in the forming of meningothelial cells, meningiomas show hormone receptors. The aim of this study was to investigate the estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) content of benign meningiomas (WHO grade I) which were completely resected.


METHODS
Paraffin-embedded tissue sections of 30 intracranial meningiomas were examined immunohistochemically using monoclonal antibodies for ER and PR.


RESULTS
All 30 (100%) tumor samples were ER-negative. Seventeen (57%) of them were positive for PR. These receptors were found in 8 of 17 (47.50%) tumors in female patients and in 9 of 13 (69.23%) tumors in male patients (Mann-Whitney p <0.05). Age, localization of tumors and histological subtype did not correlate with PR status.


CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrated complete absence of ER in benign meningiomas. In contrast, PR were positive in more than half of the patients. PR positivity was significantly higher in male patients.
Milenković
S
S
Department of Pathology, Clinical Hospital Center Zemun, Serbia & Montenegro.
Berisavac
J
J
Cvetković-Dozić
D
D
Skender-Gazibara
M
M
Bojović
V
V
Berisavac
I
I