Estrogen production and metabolism in endometriosis

Serdar E. Bulun, Bulun Se, Yang S, Sijun Yang, Fang Z, ZHOJUAN FANG, Bilgin Gurates, Bilgin Gürateş, Gurates B, Tamura M, Mitsutoshi Tamura, Siby Sebastian, Sebastian S
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2002 · vol. 955(1) , pp. 75–85 · doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2002.tb02767.x · PMID:11949967 · W1975163471
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Endometriosis tissue aberrantly expresses aromatase, stimulated by PGE2, leading to local estrogen production and a positive feedback cycle, while deficient 17beta-HSD type 2 impairs estrogen inactivation.

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Abstract

Aromatase activity is absent in normal endometrium. In contrast, aromatase is expressed aberrantly in endometriosis, which gives rise to strikingly high levels of aromatase activity in this tissue. Both aromatase expression and activity are stimulated by PGE2. This results in local production of estrogen, which induces PGE2 formation and establishes a positive feedback cycle. Another abnormality in endometriosis, that is, deficient 17beta-HSD type 2 expression, impairs the inactivation of estradiol to estrone. These molecular aberrations collectively favor accumulation of increasing quantities of estradiol and PGE2 in endometriosis. The clinical relevance of these findings was exemplified by the successful treatment of an unusually aggressive case of postmenopausal endometriosis using an aromatase inhibitor.

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Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Estrogens Aromatase Aromatase Aromatase Aromatase Inhibitors Aromatase Inhibitors Dinoprostone Dinoprostone Dinoprostone Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometrium Endometrium Endometrium Enzyme Inhibitors Enzyme Inhibitors Enzyme Inhibitors

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (41)

Cited by (50)

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