Testosterone inhibits estrogen/progestogen-induced breast cell proliferation in postmenopausal women

Autor: Lambert Skoog, Marie Hofling, Torsten Hägerström, Angelica Lindén Hirschberg, Edneia Tani, Bo von Schoultz
Rok vydání: 2006
Předmět:
Zdroj: Menopause (New York, N.Y.). 14(2)
ISSN: 1072-3714
Popis: Objective: During the past few years serious concern has been raised about the safety ofcombined estrogen/progestogen hormone therapy, in particular about its effects on the breast.Several observations suggest that androgens may counteract the proliferative effects of estrogen andprogestogen in the mammary gland. Thus, we aimed to study the effects of testosterone addition onbreast cell proliferation during postmenopausal estrogen/progestogen therapy.Design: We conducted a 6-month prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlledstudy. A total of 99 postmenopausal women were given continuous combined estradiol 2 mg/norethisterone acetate 1 mg and were equally randomly assigned to receive additionaltreatment witheitheratestosteronepatchreleasing300Kg/24 hours or a placebo patch. Breast cells were collectedby fine needle aspiration biopsy at baseline and after 6 months, and the main outcome measurewas the percentage of proliferating breast cells positively stained by the Ki-67/MIB-1 antibody.Results: A total of 88 women, 47 receiving active treatment and 41 in the placebo group,completed the study. In the placebo group there was a more than fivefold increase (P G 0.001) intotal breast cell proliferation from baseline (median 1.1%) to 6 months (median 6.2%). Duringtestosterone addition, no significant increase was recorded (1.6% vs 2.0%). The different effectsof the two treatments were apparent in both epithelial and stromal cells.Conclusions: Addition of testosterone may counteract breast cell proliferation as induced byestrogen/progestogen therapy in postmenopausal women.Key Words:Hormone therapy Y Testosterone treatment Y Breast cell proliferation.
Databáze: OpenAIRE