Serum hormone levels in breast cancer patients and controls in Egypt and Great Britain. The Anglo-Egyptian Health Agreement Collaborative Study

Abstract

The levels of serum prolactin, progesterone, oestradiol and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) have been measured in premenopausal and postmenopausal normal women and patients with breast cancer living in Egypt or Britain. In addition, the percentage of non-protein-bound oestradiol (free oestradiol) was determined. The breast cancer patients had attended the Tanta Cancer Institute, Cairo Cancer Institute, Guy's Hospital, London or the Western Infirmary, Glasgow. The respective control women were unaffected volunteers living in Tanta, Cairo, Guernsey or Glasgow. The concentration of serum prolactin, oestradiol and progesterone was similar for cancers and controls within, or between centres. There was no difference between patients and their respective controls in SHBG levels for the four centres. In premenopausal women a comparison of combined patient and control groups showed that women from Tanta had significantly raised SHBG levels compared with similarly combined groups from the other three centres. Egyptian women (cancers plus controls) had a higher percentage free oestradiol (1.61%) than British women (1.42%). In all four centres there was a significant linear correlation between the percentage free oestradiol and SHBG levels for pre- and postmenopausal women. The regression line for British women was significantly lower than that of Egyptian women. Thus, for a given serum SHBG level, Egyptian women have a higher free oestradiol than British women. The results may be associated with the claim that Egyptian women present with a more aggressive form of breast cancer than British women.