Effects of sex steroids on survival and receptor expression in ovarian epithelial tumour cells

• The factors that govern the genesis and progression of ovarian cancer remain unclear. It is thought that ovarian tumours are endocrine related and hormone dependent. We therefore investigated the effects of the sex steroids progesterone, testosterone and 17 beta-estradiol on tumour cell survival and the expression of estrogen receptors (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) in tumour cells. The study was performed on primary cell cultures derived from patients suffering from epithelial ovarian cancer. The majority of the cells isolated expressed ER and PR to some degree, the combination ER+/PR+ was the most common. Both ER and PR expression decreased after 72-h culture, revealing an unexpectedly dynamic system. The survival rates of cells cultured in progesterone seemed to be inversely related to their PR expression. Lowering levels of 17 beta-estradiol and testosterone in cell cultures reduced cell survival, but it appears that this observation depends on factors other than ER.

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