Effect of testosterone and estradiol-17beta on synthesis of DNA, RNA and protein in human breast in organ culture

Effects of testosterone (T) and estradiol-17beta (E-2) on the synthesis of DNA, RNA and protein were studied in explants of the following types of malignant and non-malignant human female breast grown in organ culture: cystic mastitis (7 cases), fibroadenoma (8), carcinoma (17) and uninvolved tissue from cancer-bearing breast (8). In cultures of systic mastitis T uniformly inhibited the incorporation of thymidine-3H into DNA, uridine-3H into RNA and L-amino acids-14C (AA-14C) into protein. E-2 inhibited the incorporation of thymidine-3H, but had a variable effect on the incorporation of uridine-3H and AA-14C. Cultures of fibroadenoma, with no steroid added, were highly proliferative especially at the outer surface, but the incorporation of thymidine-3H, uridine-3H and AA-14C was much lower than in cystic mastitis. Whereas in fibroadenoma T uniformly inhibited the synthesis of DNA, RNA and protein, the effect of E-2 was variable: in most cases it inhibited the synthesis of DNA,but in one it stimulated it appreciably; in the majority of cases E-2 stimulated RNA and protein synthesis. In cultures of cancerous tissue T depressed, in most cases, the incorporation of thymidine-3H, uridine-3H and AA-14C, but it stimulated it in 4 out of 17. E-2 inhibited the synthesis of DNA, RNA and protein in 6 cases (2 of them were inhibited by T), stimulated them in 9 (one stimulated by T) and had no clear effect in 2. The effect of the steroids on the explants of uninvolved tissue was variable and did not always parallel their effect on the cancerous tissue from the respective patients.

The uptake and metabolism of (4-14C)testosterone in human breast cancer growth in organ culture

The uptake and metabolism of [4-14C]testosterone was studied in 10 tissue samples of human female breast grown in organ culture. Four samples were from carcinomas, 4 were non-cancerous tissue from the uninvolved part of the cancer bearing breast, and two were from fibroadenomas. In all cases testosterone was metabolized to androstenedione, androsterone, dihydrotestosterone, androstanedione and androstanediol. The non-cancerous tissues showed greater retention, uptake and conversion of testosterone into metabolites than the cancerous tissues. The retention of testosterone in the fibroadenomas samples was lower than that in samples of either cancerous or non-cancerous tissue. The uptake and conversion of testosterone into metabolites in one case of fibroadenoma was similar to that seen in cancerous tissue samples but in the other case it was considerably higher.

Biosynthesis of pregnanetriolone and pregnanetetrol in congenital adrenal hyperplasia

Following the simultaneous intravenous injection of 17α-hydroxypregnenolone-3H and 17α-hydroxyprogesterone-14C to a patient with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, the following labelled metabolites were isolated from the urine: 17α-OH-pregnanolone, 5β-pregnane-3α,17α,20α-triol, pregn-5-ene-3β,17α,20α-triol, pregnanetriolone (3α,17α,20α-trihydroxy-5β-pregnan-11-one) and pregnanetetrol (5β-pregnane-3α,11β,17α,20α-tetrol).

The 3H/14C ratio recovered in the urinary pregnanetriolone and pregnanetetrol was higher than in the injected mixture. It thus follows that 17α-hydroxypregnenolone-3H was converted to both metabolites, at least in part, by a pathway(s) not including 17α-hydroxyprogesterone. Two additional pathways have been considered, I: 17α-OH-pregnenolone → pregn-5-ene-3β,1 1β,17 α-triol-20-one→21-deoxycortisol→ pregnanetriolone (or »tetrol«), and II: 17α-OH-pregnenolone → pregn-5-ene-3β,11β,17α-triol-20-one → pregn-5-enetriolone → pregnanetriolone (or »tetrol«).

The role of cluster analysis on traditional cephalometric dimensions

In order to categorize (classify) craniofacial forms, varying linear dimensional arrays from a series of pretreatment cephalographs ('A' records) were subjected to cluster analysis. The derived subgroups (clusters) not only showed inconsistencies in their component patients, but also their 'nearest neighbors', i.e. cases identified as being most similar to one another. This study, therefore, emphasized the need to devise more appropriate cephalometric appraisal techniques for patient categorization (diagnosis).