HYPOTHALAMIC-PITUITARY-PROLACTIN AXIS IN BREAST CANCER
1974; Elsevier BV; Volume: 303; Issue: 7863 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/s0140-6736(74)90345-6
ISSN1474-547X
AutoresIndraneel Mittra, J.L. Hayward, A. S. McNeilly,
Tópico(s)Thyroid Disorders and Treatments
ResumoThe secretory reserve of pituitary lactophores was assessed by measuring the plasma concentration of prolactin before and 20 and 60 minutes after the intravenous injection of 200 μg. of thyrotrophin-releasing hormone (T.R.H.) in fifty women with early and fifty women with advanced cancer of the breast. Results were compared with those obtained in a group of fifty age-matched women in hospital awaiting surgery for a variety of conditions. There was no statistical difference in the mean basal prolactin levels between the three groups. Only women with advanced breast cancer exhibited a marginally greater pituitary reserve of prolactin as evidenced by a significantly higher plasma level of this hormone in response to T.R.H. stimulation. Prolactin response to T.R.H. in the early-breast-cancer group was not significantly different from that in controls. The hypothesis is put forward, based on previous experimental evidence, that a suboptimal level of circulating thyroid hormones may abnormally sensitise mammary epithelial cells to prolactin stimulation, leading to dysplasia and eventual neoplasia.
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