hormones

Researchers in New South Wales, Australia may have found one of the reasons for survival differences in men and women with malignant peritoneal mesothelioma. The key may be in their hormones. The sex hormone estradiol is produced by the ovaries and the adrenal gland in women and is an active metabolic product of testosterone (though in much lower levels) in men. The most important form of estrogen in the body, estradiol has been shown to be involved in cellular proliferation of a number of cancers and acts mainly through estrogen receptors. Peritoneal mesothelioma is a cancer than spreads across the thin membrane that lines the wall of the abdomen. Using immunohistochemical testing, the Australian team measured estrogen receptors in 42 patients…