Effect of anti-antibodies to estradiol and progesterone on the concentration of hormones in the blood serum of healthy women and breast cancer patients

Abstract

The relationship between autoantibodies specific to estradiol (Es)/ progesterone (Pg) and the concentrations of these hormones in the blood serum of healthy women and breast cancer patients has been previously revealed.Purpose: to study the association between anti-idiotypic antibodies to Es and Pg and the concentrations of these hormones in postmenopausal healthy women and breast cancer patients.Material and Methods. The levels of Es and Pg in the blood serum of 206 healthy women and 480 breast cancer patients were studied using competitive enzyme immunoassay. The levels of autoantibodies to Es and Pg and appropriate antiidiotypic antibodies in the same serums were studied using non-competitive enzyme immunoassay.Results. The high personal ratio of hormones (Pg/Es >4.0) was associated with the low breast cancer risk (OR=0.3; р<0.0001), high individual ratio of specific antibodies (IgA-Pg1/IgA-Es1>1.0; р=0.004) and high individual ratio of anti-idiotypic antibodies (IgG-Pg2/IgG-Es2>1.0; p<0.001) in healthy women, but not in breast cancer patients.Conclusion. The association between anti-idiotypic antibodies of G class specific to Es/ Pg and hormonal status was revealed in healthy women but not in breast cancer patients. Further studies on the mechanisms of immunoregulation of carcinogenesis are needed.

Keywords

• breast cancer
• anti-idiotypic antibodies
• estradiol
• progesterone