The role and proposed mechanism by which oestradiol 17 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase regulates breast tumour oestrogen concentrations

Synthesis of the biologically active oestrogen, oestradiol, within breast tumours makes an important contribution to the high concentrations of oestrogens which are present in malignant breast tissues. In breast tumours, oestrone is preferentially converted to oestradiol by the Type I oestradiol 17 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (E2DH). Several growth factors, such as insulin-like growth factor Type I, and cytokines, such as Tumour Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF alpha), have been shown to stimulate E2DH activity in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. As little is known about the regulation of Type I E2DH expression and activity in other breast cancer cell lines, the expression and activity of this enzyme was examined in other oestrogen receptor positive and also oestrogen receptor negative breast cancer cell lines. As it is possible that E2DH activity may be limited by co-factor availability, the effects of exogenous co-factors on enzyme activity in these cell lines was also investigated. For T47D and BT20 breast cancer cells, the addition of exogenous co-factors was found to enhance enzyme activity. TNF alpha, in addition to stimulating E2DH activity in MCF-7 cells, also increased activity in T47D and MDA-MB-231 cells, although to a lesser extent than in MCF-7 cells. An investigation of signalling pathways involved in the regulation of E2DH activity revealed that stimulation of both the protein kinase C (PRC) and PKA pathways may be involved in regulation of E2DH activity. As several growth factors and cytokines have now been found to be involved in regulating E2DH activity, the role that macrophages and lymphocytes have in supplying these factors and the mechanism by which these factors may stimulate tumour growth, is also reviewed.