title: Metabolic alteration of urinary steroids in pre- and post-menopausal women, and men with papillary thyroid carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To evaluate the metabolic changes in urinary steroids in pre- and post-menopausal women and men with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Quantitative steroid profiling combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to measure the urinary concentrations of 84 steroids in both pre- (n = 21, age: 36.95 ± 7.19 yr) and post-menopausal female (n = 19, age: 52.79 ± 7.66 yr), and male (n = 16, age: 41.88 ± 8.48 yr) patients with PTC. After comparing the quantitative data of the patients with their corresponding controls (pre-menopause women: n = 24, age: 33.21 ± 10.48 yr, post-menopause women: n = 16, age: 49.67 ± 8.94 yr, male: n = 20, age: 42.75 ± 4.22 yr), the levels of steroids in the patients were normalized to the mean concentration of the controls to exclude gender and menopausal variations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Many urinary steroids were up-regulated in all PTC patients compared to the controls. Among them, the levels of three active androgens, androstenedione, androstenediol and 16α-hydroxy DHEA, were significantly higher in the pre-menopausal women and men with PTC. The corticoid levels were increased slightly in the PTC men, while progestins were not altered in the post-menopausal PTC women. Estrogens were up-regulated in all PTC patients but 2-hydroxyestrone and 2-hydroxy-17β-estradiol were remarkably changed in both pre-menopausal women and men with PTC. For both menopausal and gender differences, the 2-hydroxylation, 4-hydroxylation, 2-methoxylation, and 4-methoxylation of estrogens and 16α-hydroxylation of DHEA were differentiated between pre- and post-menopausal PTC women (P < 0.001). In particular, the metabolic ratio of 2-hydroxyestrone to 2-hydroxy-17β-estradiol, which could reveal the enzyme activity of 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, showed gender differences in PTC patients (P < 1 × 10-7).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results are expected be helpful for better understanding the pathogenic differences in PTC according to gender and menopausal conditions.
authors.affiliation: Future Convergence Research Division, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 136-791, Korea.
authors.forename: Man Ho
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Ju-Yeon
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.forename: Sung-Hee
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Bong Chul
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Eun Jig
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015114:Androstenediol / Q000378:metabolism / Q000652:urine; D000735:Androstenedione / Q000378:metabolism / Q000652:urine; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000378:metabolism / Q000652:urine*; D003687:Dehydroepiandrosterone / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism / Q000652:urine; D004958:Estradiol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism / Q000652:urine; D004967:Estrogens / Q000378:metabolism / Q000652:urine; D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D006894:Hydroxyestrones / Q000378:metabolism / Q000652:urine; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000378:metabolism / Q000652:urine*; D017697:Premenopause / Q000378:metabolism / Q000652:urine*; D012737:Sex Factors; D013256:Steroids / Q000378:metabolism / Q000652:urine*; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000652:urine*
chemical_list: D004967:Estrogens; D006894:Hydroxyestrones; D013256:Steroids; C011277:16-hydroxydehydroepiandrosterone; D000735:Androstenedione; D003687:Dehydroepiandrosterone; D004958:Estradiol; D015114:Androstenediol; C024980:2-hydroxyestrone