Gene regulation studies of aromatase expression in breast cancer and adipose stromal cells.

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

The expression of aromatase in human breast tumors was studied using the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method on 70 breast tissue specimens. An RT-PCR analysis using two oligonucleotide primers derived from exon II of the human aromatase gene revealed that aromatase mRNA was detected in all but three tissue specimens. Furthermore, primer-directed RT-PCR was performed to determine the exon I usage in aromatase mRNA in these breast tumor specimens. The analysis revealed that exons I.3 and PII are the two major exons I present in aromatase mRNA isolated from breast tumors, suggesting that promoters I.3 and II are the major promoters driving aromatase expression in breast cancer and surrounding adipose stromal cells (ASCs). Recently, the regulatory properties of a 696-base pair region that contains promoter II, and is situated immediately upstream of exon II of the human aromatase gene, were investigated. Detailed DNase 1 footprinting analysis, DNA mobility shift assays, and chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) functional studies of this genomic region were performed and led to the identification of a segment (B1) that could act as a promoter (probably promoter I.3) in adipose stromal and breast cancer cells. The study further revealed that the B1 region could be divided into two domains which were designated RE1 and RE2. RE1 was found to have the prom

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

Browse all related research

Filter the research library by this study's title keywords, author, or publication year.