Future Convergence Research Division, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 136-791, Korea.
BMC Cancer. 2011 Aug 8;11:342. doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-11-342.
To evaluate the metabolic changes in urinary steroids in pre- and post-menopausal women and men with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).
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.
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).
These results are expected be helpful for better understanding the pathogenic differences in PTC according to gender and menopausal conditions.
评估绝经前、后妇女和男性甲状腺乳头状癌（PTC）患者尿甾体代谢变化。
采用定量类固醇谱分析联合气相色谱-质谱法测定 21 例绝经前（年龄：36.95 ± 7.19 岁）、19 例绝经后（年龄：52.79 ± 7.66 岁）和 16 例男性（年龄：41.88 ± 8.48 岁）PTC 患者的尿中 84 种甾体浓度。将患者的定量数据与相应的对照组（绝经前女性：n = 24，年龄：33.21 ± 10.48 岁；绝经后女性：n = 16，年龄：49.67 ± 8.94 岁；男性：n = 20，年龄：42.75 ± 4.22 岁）进行比较，将患者的甾体水平标准化为对照组的平均浓度，以排除性别和绝经差异。
与对照组相比，所有 PTC 患者的许多尿甾体均升高。其中，绝经前妇女和男性 PTC 患者的三种活性雄激素（雄烯二酮、雄烯二醇和 16α-羟基 DHEA）水平明显升高。PTC 男性的皮质醇水平略有升高，而绝经后 PTC 女性的孕激素没有改变。所有 PTC 患者的雌激素均升高，但绝经前妇女和男性的 2-羟基雌酮和 2-羟基-17β-雌二醇变化显著。对于绝经前和绝经后以及性别差异，PTC 绝经前和绝经后女性的雌激素的 2-羟化、4-羟化、2-甲氧基化和 4-甲氧基化以及 DHEA 的 16α-羟化均有差异（P < 0.001）。特别是，2-羟基雌酮与 2-羟基-17β-雌二醇的代谢比值可以揭示 17β-羟甾脱氢酶的酶活性，在 PTC 患者中存在性别差异（P < 1 × 10-7）。
这些结果有望有助于更好地根据性别和绝经状况理解 PTC 的发病差异。
