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DOI: 10.1016/S1071-55760200253-8 Ethnic Variations in Uterine Leiomyoma Biology Are Not Caused By Differences in Myometrial Estrogen Receptor Alpha LevelsDivision of Gynecological Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology,University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Human Genetics, University Medical Centre Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Department of Chemical Endocrinology, University Medical Centre Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pretoria Academic Hospital, Pretoria, South Africa; frederic.amant{at}uz.kuleuven.ac.be
Division of Gynecological Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology,University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Human Genetics, University Medical Centre Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Department of Chemical Endocrinology, University Medical Centre Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pretoria Academic Hospital, Pretoria, South Africa Objective: Uterine leiomyomas develop in women of reproductive age and regress after menopause, suggesting that they grow in a steroid hormone-dependent fashion. Furthermore, it is widely accepted that symptomatic uterine leiomyomas occur at a twofold to threefold higher frequency in black women than in white women. The present study was designed to investigate a possible physiologic role of racial differences in the myometrial estrogen receptor alpha in this phenomenon. Methods: We compared the expression of the estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor in myometrium by ligand-binding assay and the estrogen receptor alpha by real-time polymerase chain reaction in women from different ethnic backgrounds who have uterine leimyoma. Results: Estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor concentrations and estrogen receptor alpha transcription levels were not statistically different between ethnic backgrounds. Conclusion: Neither on a transcriptional nor on a protein level were there statistically relevant differences in steroid hormone receptor levels. A causative role for these receptors in the ethnic variation of leiomyoma biology seems unlikely.
Key Words: Myometrium leiomyoma ethnic ER
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