Background The risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women is increased two-fold with obesity, and the majority of breast tumours that arise are oestrogen-dependent. After menopause, when the ovaries cease to produce oestrogens, it is the local production of oestrogens within the breast adipose stromal cells (ASCs) which promotes and sustains tumour growth. This is largely due to the increase...

the conversion of androst-4-ene-3,17-dione (androstenedione) to estrone through three sequential oxygenations of the 19-methyl group. Inhibitors of aromatase have recently attracted interest not only in the treatment of advanced estrogen-dependent breast cancer but also in the elucidation of the spatial aspects of the active-site of the enzyme as well as the still unsolved mechanism of the arom...

Obesity is a risk factor for postmenopausal breast cancer and the majority of these cancers are estrogen dependent. Aromatase converts androgens into estrogens and its increased expression in breast adipose stromal cells (ASC) is a major driver of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. In particular, obesity-associated and tumor-derived factors, such as prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), have been sho...

Vascular endothelium expresses both the estrogen receptors (ERs) α and β, and ERα mediates development of early atherosclerosis in male mice. This process is thought to be testosterone-dependent. We hypothesized that male murine aortic endothelium produces robust levels of estradiol by aromatase conversion of testosterone, and that regulation of this process is mediated by the presence of ERs, ...

In this study we identified sex-dependent dimorphism of brain aromatase in the teleost medaka and examined its regulation by sex steriods. We first investigated differential distribution of brain aromatase activity in sexually mature male and female medaka in serial coronal sections of the brain and identified the hypothalamic nuclei contained in each section using the brain atlas of medaka. In...

BACKGROUND Aromatase inhibitors are associated with consistent improvements in disease-free survival but not in overall survival. We conducted a literature-based meta-analysis of randomized trials to examine whether the relative toxicity of aromatase inhibitors compared with tamoxifen may explain this finding. METHODS We conducted a systematic review to identify randomized controlled trials t...

CONTEXT Up-regulation of aromatase expression in endometrial cells disseminated into the peritoneal cavity may enhance their survival via local estrogen synthesis, which may lead to endometriosis. The factors that mediate induction of aromatase in the endometrium are not well defined, but increased expression of steroidogenic factor (SF)-1 may play a role. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study...

PURPOSE The metabolism and synthesis of intratumoral estrogens are thought to play a very important role in the etiology and progression of endometrial carcinoma. Aromatase is a key enzyme in the conversion of androgens to estrogens, and aromatase localization studies have reported that aromatase immunoreactivity and mRNA were detected mainly in stromal cells. However, the effect of tumor-strom...

In humans, aromatase (CYP19) gene expression is regulated via alternative promoters. Activation of each promoter gives rise to a CYP19 mRNA species with a unique 5'-untranslated region. Inhibition of aromatase has been reported to downregulate lung tumor growth. The genetic basis for CYP19 gene expression and aromatase activity in lung cancer remains poorly understood. We analyzed tissues from ...

Ten compounds were isolated from the dichloromethane extract of Atractylodes macrocephala and their aromatase inhibiting activities were tested using an in vitro fluorescent-based aromatase assay. The results indicated that atractylenolide I, atractylenolide II and atractylenolide III had inhibition ratios of 94.56 ± 0.70%, 90.93 ± 1.41% and 86.31 ± 8.46%, respectively, at a concentration of 10...