Prostaglandins in Human Mammary Cancer

Sample size: 100 publication Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): D.M.A. Watson, R.W. Kelly, R.A. Hawkins, W.R. Miller

Primary Institution: University Department of Clinical Surgery, Royal Infirmary; Centre for Reproductive Biology, Chalmers Street, Edinburgh, UK

Human mammary cancers produce prostaglandin-like material that may be involved in tumor growth and metastases.

All examined human mammary carcinomas contained measurable amounts of prostaglandins, with significant variation between individual tumors.

All tumors contained measurable amounts of both PGE2 and PGF2.
Values for PGE2 ranged from 7 to 762 ng g-1 tissue with a median of 100 ng g-1 tissue.
Values for PGF2 ranged from 3 to 475 ng g-1 tissue with a median of 60 ng g-1 tissue.
There was a highly significant positive correlation between amounts of the two prostaglandins in individual tumors.
Prostaglandin levels were not significantly related to menopausal status or steroid receptor presence.

Doctors looked at breast cancer samples to see how much of certain chemicals called prostaglandins were there, and they found a lot in every sample.

Prostaglandins were measured using Gas Liquid Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry in tumor extracts from 100 women with breast cancer.

The study could not assess the relationship between prostaglandin levels and prognosis due to short follow-up time.

100 women with breast cancer, including 15 premenopausal, 10 perimenopausal, and 75 postmenopausal.

p<0.001

p<0.001

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