Cargando…
Possible Estrogen Dependency in the Pathogenesis of Branchial Cleft Cysts
BACKGROUND: Even though branchial cleft cysts are currently accepted as a congenital anomaly, there is often a long delay until clinical presentation; branchial cleft cysts classically appear in the second to fourth decade of life. Our observation of their occurrence in three pregnant women encourag...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Hindawi
2017
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5749213/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29410959 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/1807056 |
Sumario: | BACKGROUND: Even though branchial cleft cysts are currently accepted as a congenital anomaly, there is often a long delay until clinical presentation; branchial cleft cysts classically appear in the second to fourth decade of life. Our observation of their occurrence in three pregnant women encouraged us to contemplate a possible hormonal influence. METHODS: Immunohistological analysis was performed for the evaluation of the estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) in paraffin-embedded tissue specimens of 16 patients with a diagnosis of branchial cleft cyst, with three of them being pregnant. RESULTS: Expression of ERα was detected within epithelial cells only in branchial cleft cysts in pregnant females; moreover, higher growth fractions (Ki-67/Mib1) were found. CONCLUSION: The fact that the estrogen receptor was expressed only in pregnant women, in contrast to 13 investigated cases, may suggest that the high level of estrogen in pregnancy is a possible explanation for the spontaneous growth of branchial cleft cysts. |
---|