Hormonal Status of Cervical Cancer

Abstract

The urinary steroid profiles of patients with cervical cancer were investigated by gas-liquid chromatography. Of the identified 14 neutral steroids, all but one (tetrahydrocortisol) exhibited reduced excretions for premenopausal patients, as compared with the corresponding controls. The extent of steroid deficiencies was not paralleled with the progress of neoplasia, but was comparable to those of the postmenopausal controls. The excretions of androsterone and 11-ketoandrosterone in postmenopausal patients were significantly lower than those of the corresponding controls. Evidence indicated that the ovulation in a premenopausal patient proceeds quite normally despite reduced excretions of all menstruation-dependent steroids (11-hydroxyandrosterone, 11-hydroxyetiocholanolone, pregnanediol, and pregnanetriol). In regard to the number of live births, our patients with cervical cancer were statistically indistinguishable from the healthy control group. More women in the group with cervical cancer, who ranged in age from 20 to 50 years, had delayed menstrual cycles than the corresponding group with breast cancer, indicating an abnormal function of the hypothalamus-pituitary axis. Implication of some developmental disturbance in the genesis of cervical cancer was suggested on the basis of the observed changes of urinary steroids.