A study on the biological behavior of human brain tumors. Part II: Steroid receptors and arachidonic acid metabolism.

The significance of steroid receptors (SR) in human brain tumors is presently a field of intense investigation in order to clarify some aspects of the biological behavior of these neoplasms. We studied the relationship between the presence of steroid receptors and the production of metabolites of the arachidonic acid cascade which have been reported to have a role in the biological behavior of some human tumors. We found that some metabolites of arachidonic acid are produced in different amounts in brain tumors which either did or did not express some steroid receptors. In particular the PGE2 were higher in estrogen receptors (ER) positive meningiomas than in ER negative ones and 6-keto-PGF1 alpha, the stable metabolite of prostacyclin, is significantly higher in androgen receptors (AR) negative meningiomas than in AR positive ones. In neuroepithelial tumors the glucocorticoid receptors (GR) positive cases synthesized more TxB2 and less PGE2 than the GR negative ones. Our data seem to suggest that some correlations exist between the presence of some steroid receptors and arachidonic acid metabolite production.