Relation between the hormonal and epidemiological aspects of ovarian cancer patients in Japan.

We compared the hormonal and epidemiological aspects of ovarian cancer patients in search of the etiology of this neoplasia. Case-control studies of Japanese women with and without cancer were conducted in parallel, with regard to both the excretion of 14 urinary steroids and the pertinent physical and physiological parameters. The results obtained are as follows: 1) premenopausal ovarian cancer patients before and after radical ovariectomy and postmenopausal-postoperative patients were associated with a specified steroid deviation profile characterized by a combination of general depression of androgens, progestins and corticosteroids with sole rescue of tetrahydrocortisol (THF) in urine. 2) The deviation profile of postmenopausal-preoperative cancer patients was distinguished from the 3 partner profiles by its preservation of normalcy in the excretions of androgen and progestin in urine. 3) Ovarian cancer patients were associated with growth retardation, when compared with urban healthy controls and patients with either breast cancer or endometrial cancer by the age-matching method. Ovarian cancer patients were also less fertile than age-matched normal controls, and were as infertile as age-matched patients with either breast cancer or endometrial cancer. 4) Epidemiological evidence was presented to suggest that the incidence of ovarian cancer in Japan was increasing in parallel with the recent increase of social tension in Japan. The possible relevance of the hormonal characteristics of ovarian cancer patients to both the epidemiological characteristics of the same cancer patients and the genesis of this neoplasia is discussed in the light of the 2-step carcinogenesis theory.