The female predominance in
meningioma incidence and association between
meningioma and
breast cancer suggest that growth of
meningiomas is
hormone-dependent. There are several discrepancies in literature about the proliferative effect of
sex hormones on
meningiomas. This study aims to evaluate the
hormone receptor status of
meningiomas and assess its relation to age, sex, histological grade, recurrence, and proliferation activity. The material was based on consecutive patients operated for
meningioma at Tampere University Hospital in 1989-1999. The occurrence of
progesterone,
estrogen and
androgen receptor in patients with primary and recurrent
meningiomas was studied immunohistochemically by using specific
monoclonal antibodies. Hormonal status was determined in 510
tumor samples. 443 samples were from primary
meningiomas and 67 from recurrent
tumors. Of the samples, 455 were benign (WHO grade I), 49 atypical (grade II), and 6 malignant (grade III). Of the primary
tumor samples, 88% were
progesterone receptor positive, 40% were positive for
estrogen and 39% for
androgen receptors. Grade I
meningiomas had significantly higher incidence for
estrogen and
androgen receptors than higher grade
meningiomas.
Estrogen positive
tumor samples had significantly higher proliferation index than
estrogen negative samples. No difference in expression of
sex hormone receptors was observed by sexes or age group.
Estrogen and
androgen receptors may have more influence on the pathogenesis of
meningiomas than earlier thought. The higher incidence of
meningiomas in women can not be explained by differences of
sex hormone receptor expression.