This report concerns the evaluation of various estrogens, estrone (El), estradiol (E2), and estrone sulfate (E1S), as well as E1S-sulfatase and aromatase activities in pre- and postmenopausal women with breast cancer. The levels (in picomoles per g; mean +/- SEM) of the various estrogens in the breast tissue from premenopausal patients (n = 11) are: El, 1.4 +/- 0.5; E2, 1.2 +/- 0.6; and E1S, 1.2 +/- 0.3. In postmenopausal patients (n = 23), the values are, respectively, 1.0 +/- 0.4, 1.4 +/- 0.7, and 3.3 +/- 1.9. These concentrations of estrogens in the tumors of postmenopausal patients are significantly higher than those found in plasma. The activity of E1S-sulfatase in both pre- and postmenopausal patients was 50-200 times higher than that of aromatase. E1S-sulfatase and aromatase activities are significantly higher in post-menopausal than in cycling patients. It is concluded that despite the low levels of circulating estrogens in postmenopausal patients, the tissue concentrations of these steroids are several-fold higher than those in plasma, suggesting tumor accumulation of these estrogens. The physiopathology and clinical significance of these high levels of the various estrogens (E1, E2, and E1S) as well as sulfatase and aromatase activities in postmenopausal patients with breast cancer is yet to be explored.

In the present studies, the concentrations (mammary tissue and plasma) of estrone (E 1 ), estradiol (E 2 ) and their sulfates (E 1 S and E 2 S), as well as the sulfatase and aromatase activities, were evaluated in patients with breast fibroadenomas. Comparative studies of the evaluation of these parameters were carried out in: (A) tumor tissue, (B) areas surrounding the tumor and (C) areas distant from the tumor (glandular tissue) considered as normal tissue. The concentrations in the tumor tissue (in pmol/g tissue) of E 1 , E 2 and E 1 S were significantly higher (2-3 times) than in the area of the breast considered as normal. Sulfatase and aromatase activities were found in the breast fibroadenoma tissue. Sulfatase activity was much higher than aromatase (30-150 times) and sulfatase levels were significantly higher in the fibroadenoma tissue than in the area considered as normal. Plasma evaluation of E 1 , E 2 , E 1 S and E 2 S concentrations showed no significant differences in relation to those of healthy control women. In conclusion, the high levels of estrogens and their sulfates, as well as the enzymes involved in estrogen formationsulfatase and aromatase in breast fibroadenoma-contribute to the hypothesis that this disease may be hormonedependent. Int.

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Let k = k 0 ( 3 √ d) be a cubic Kummer extension of k 0 = Q(ζ 3 ) with d > 1 a cubefree integer and ζ 3 a primitive third root of unity. Denote by C (σ) k,3 the 3-group of ambiguous classes of the extension k/k 0 with relative group G = Gal(k/k 0 ) = σ . The aims of this paper are to characterize all extensions k/k 0 with cyclic 3-group of ambiguous classes C (σ)k,3 of order 3, to investigate the multiplicity m(f ) of the conductors f of these abelian extensions k/k 0 , and to classify the fields k according to the cohomology of their unit groups E k as Galois modules over G. The techniques employed for reaching these goals are relative 3-genus fields, Hilbert norm residue symbols, quadratic 3-ring class groups modulo f , the Herbrand quotient of E k , and central orthogonal idempotents. All theoretical achievements are underpinned by extensive computational results.