Biopsy screening for P450arom was able to accurately diagnose disease presence.

2003 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Endometrial biopsy screening for P450arom, measuring aromatase, was able to diagnose endometriosis in most patients.

According to a study from Japan, "Endometriosis, defined as the presence of endometrial glands and stroma outside of the uterine cavity, develops mostly in women of reproductive age and regresses after menopause or ovariectomy, suggesting that the growth is estrogen-dependent. Indeed, the lesions contain estrogen receptors (ER) as well as aromatase, an enzyme that catalyses the conversion of androgens to estrogens, suggesting that local estrogen production may stimulate the growth of lesions.

"The expression patterns of ER and progesterone receptors in endometriotic lesions are different from those in the eutopic endometrium. Moreover, estrogen metabolism, including the expression pattern of aromatase and the regulation of 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (an enzyme responsible for the inactivation of estradiol to estrone), is altered in the eutopic endometrium of women with endometriosis, adenomyosis, and/or leiomyomas compared to that in the eutopic endometrium of women without disease," wrote J. Kitawaki and coworkers.

The researchers concluded: "Immunostaining for P450arom in ...