Objective: To measure messenger RNA levels of estrogen receptor (ER) alpha and beta in uterine leiomyomas, normal myometrium, and endometrium.
Design: Prospective study.
Setting: University hospital.
Patient(s): Seventeen premenopausal women who underwent surgery due to symptomatic uterine leiomyomas.
Intervention(s): None.
Main outcome measure(s): Quantitative RT-PCR was used for evaluation of ERalpha and ERbeta expression. Results were normalized to total cellular DNA.
Result(s): Expression of ERalpha and ERbeta did not differ between leiomyomas and myometrium; however, in both tissues, expression of ERalpha was significantly higher than that of ERbeta. Estrogen receptor-alpha expression in endometrium was lower than in leiomyomas and myometrium. In leiomyomas and endometrium, correlations between expression of ERalpha and ERbeta were found.
Conclusion(s): Uterine leiomyomas, myometrium, and endometrium display distinct patterns of ER expression.