Quantification of epidermal growth factor in human breast cyst fluids: Correlation with dehydroepiandrosterone‐sulphate and electrolyte concentrations

Abstract

Epidermal growth factor (EGF), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHA)-sulphate and [Na+] and [K+] were assayed in 78 cyst fluids from patients with a palpable breast cyst. Epidermal growth factor was detected in all but 2 cysts, the mean value +/- SEM being 506.2 +/- 39.3 ng/ml, with a range of 0-1,599 ng/ml. When the cyst fluids were sub-divided according to their [Na+]:[K+] ratio, group A cyst fluids ( [Na+]:[K+] less than 3) had a significantly higher (p less than 0.001) level of EGF than group B cyst fluids ([Na+]:[K+] greater than 3). Furthermore, the relationship between EGF and [Na+] and [K+] and between EGF and DHA-sulphate seemed to differ between the 2 cyst types and each cyst type was therefore analyzed separately.

Biochemical study of cyst fluid in human breast cystic disease: a review

“…Miller et al [45] have suggested that the intracystic concentrations of DHEA-S parallel the degree of apocrine metaplasia lining the cyst walls, and demonstrated that the Na+/K + ratios are negatively correlated with the levels of DHEA-S. The last observation has been corroborated by several other reports [45,46,51,53,55,56]. DHEA-S is considered a marker of apocrine activity because it is present, sometimes in very high concentration, in extramammary In addition to androgen sulfates, sulfoconjugated estrogens such as estrone-3-sulfate (E~-3-S) and estriol-3-sulfate (E3-3-S) also tend to accumulate in hBCF [58][59][60].…”

“…All the reports agree that concentrations of EGF were significantty higher in the hBCFs with low electrolyte ratio [53,55,56,72]. Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between the levels of EGF and DHEA-S [53,55,56] (Table 3).…”

“…All the reports agree that concentrations of EGF were significantty higher in the hBCFs with low electrolyte ratio [53,55,56,72]. Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between the levels of EGF and DHEA-S [53,55,56] (Table 3). This direct relationship between the levels of EGF and DHEA-S suggests that EGF synthesis may be modulated by androgens inside the breast cyst, as occurs in the mouse submaxillary gland [113,114].…”

“…It has recently been demonstrated that EGF is detectable, sometimes at high levels, in hBCFs [108,109,53,55,56,72,[110][111][112]. All the reports agree that concentrations of EGF were significantty higher in the hBCFs with low electrolyte ratio [53,55,56,72].…”

“…In the last decade, several reports have clearly demonstrated certain conjugated androgens, especially DHEA-S, in wide-ranging concentrations in hBCF [43,46,[48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56]. Sometimes the concentration of DHEA-S in hBCF reaches values seldom observed in any other biological fluid, including renal, pleural, hepatic, or ovarian cysts.…”