Nature of Ovarian-Adrenal Dysfunction in Breast Cancer Patients2

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Abstract
The interrelationships among metabolically distinct urinary steroids and groups of steroids, fraction 1 (F1), fraction 2 (F2), and fraction 3 (F3), were investigated in subjects with and without breast cancer. By use of a series of urine samples from each woman and from each group of women, the regression equation (y=mx+b) and the correlation coefficient were calculated with regard to two pairs of steroid parameters: 1) the F2/F1 ratio versus 5β-pregnane-3α,20α-diol (Pd) linkage and 2) tetrahydrocortisol (THF) versus androsterone (AD) linkage. Evidence was presented that the inclination m for the first linkage, the change of Pd excretion relative to the change of the F2/F1 ratio, was above the threshold value of 1 in a woman with the ovulatlng capacity. Healthy subjects were investigated in a follow-up study of individuals as well as in a group study; they exhibited both a normal Pd excretion (m≥1.000) and a positive correlation with the THF-AD linkage. When checked individually, patients with breast cancer were associated either with ovulation failure (m1F3≤0.7). The physiologic significance of the dissociated steroid linkages was discussed from the viewpoint of adolescent endocrinology. On the basis of the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis, a change was proposed with regard to the designation of two menstruation-dependent steroids: The designations 11-hydroxyandrosterone and 11-hydroxyetiocholanolone in earlier papers by Kodama et al. were to be replaced by 5β-pregnane-3α,17α-diol-20-one and 5β-pregnane-3α-ol-20-one, respectively.

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