Open AccessSex Hormone Binding Globulin as a Reliable Indicator of Hormone Dependence in Human Breast Cancer
Author(s) -
Yuji Murayama,
Joji Utsunomiya,
Isamu Takahashi,
Masatsugu Kitamura,
Takeshi Tominaga
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
annals of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.153
H-Index - 309
eISSN - 1528-1140
pISSN - 0003-4932
DOI - 10.1097/00000658-197908000-00002
Subject(s) - sex hormone binding globulin , medicine , endocrinology , estrogen , hormone , testosterone (patch) , breast cancer , hormone receptor , globulin , titer , sex hormone receptor , cancer , estrogen receptor , androgen , immunology , antibody
One hundred nine pre- and postmenopausal mammary carcinoma cases were studied to elucidate the role of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) in the hormone dependence of human breast cancer. Our findings indicate that there is a significant negative correlation between SHBG binding capacity and plasma testosterone concentration. All patients with high SHBG titers were found to be cytosol estrogen receptor (CER) positive and the plasma SHBG binding capacity of CER positive was significantly higher than that of CER negative patients. We also found that the level of pretherapy plasma SHBG concentration is a reliable indicator in predicting the efficacy of hormone therapy. Our findings also confirm that, for a tumor to be hormone dependent, high plasma SHBG concentration and estrogen receptors must be present simultaneously. The present pretherapy determination of SHBG titers is easier and more reliable than previous methods for determining the hormone dependence of human breast tumors.