Figure 1
Cervical tumours are enriched in oestradiol (E2) and express oestrogen receptor α. (A) (i) Concentrations of 17β-oestradiol as determined by ELISA in blood plasma from healthy donors (Pl HD) or patients with CxCa (Pl CxCa) as well as in (ii) tissue samples of cervical tumours (CxCa), areas adjacent to the tumours (CxCa adj), and healthy cervices (Normal Cx). Graph shows mean values ± SEM of n = 30 per group. (B) Staining distribution of 17β oestradiol, oestrogen receptor α, and aromatase in a representative tissue section of SCC cervix. Upper left image (i) shows haematoxylin and eosin staining of a tumour section; upper right image (ii) shows E2 staining which was predominantly cytoplasmic in the tumor and both nuclear and cytoplasmic in the stroma and infiltrating cells; lower left image (iii) shows the nuclear staining of ERα in the stromal cells only; lower right image (iv) shows aromatase expression detected in the cytoplasm of the tumour, stroma and infiltrating cells. Inset: normal rabbit serum negative control. Symbol T indicates tumour location in each picture; *Indicates stroma. Images are representative of n = 30.
