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Search for Estrogen Receptors in Human Meningioma Tissue Sections with a Monoclonal Antibody against the Human Estrogen Receptor¹

Department of Endocrinology, Academic Hospital, Utrecht [M. A. B., J. H. H. T.]; Department of Biochemistry, Dr. Daniel den Hoed Cancer Center Rotterdam [M. A. B.]; and Departments of Biochemistry II [P. M. J. J. B., E. M.] and Neurosurgery [G. B.], Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Meningiomas are rich in progestin receptors, whereas estrogen receptors (ER) are virtually undetectable. The present experiments were performed to evaluate whether the absence of ER from the majority of human meningioma cytosols can be attributed to: (a) occurrence of only a small number of ER-positive cells in an otherwise ER-negative tissue; (b) resistance of nuclear receptors to extraction; or (c) impairment of steroid binding. Twenty-one specimens were selected from our total series of 67 meningiomas. Based on cytosol assays, five of these meningiomas were considered to be ER positive (10–42 fmol/mg protein) and five had marginal ER concentrations (4–9 fmol/mg protein), whereas the remaining tissues were ER negative. For comparison, human breast cancer tissues were used. Tissues were sectioned at 6 µm and stained immunocytochemically using a monoclonal antibody against the human ER. The breast cancer specimens showed specific nuclear staining in part of the tumor cells. The sensitivity of the immunocytochemical assay was found to be sufficient to detect staining in breast cancer tissues containing as little as 17 fmol ER/mg cytosol protein. No specific staining was observed in meningioma tissues. It is concluded that the majority of meningiomas are truly devoid of ER and that the estrogen binding agent detected in low concentration in some meningioma cytosols is immunologically different from the human breast cancer ER. The presence of progestin receptors in meningioma apparently does not require the continuous presence of ER.