Objective: To investigate the expression status of the P450arom mRNA in breast tissue of pubertal mammary hypertrophy and then explore the possible etiology of pubertal mammary hypertrophy.
Methods: 15 patients were selected for pubertal mammary hypertrophy group. Breast hypertrophy tissue specimens were collected from the gland excised during reduction mammaplasty. 15 patients with pathologically simple fibroadenoma were used as another control group. Patient approval of participation in this study was obtained preoperatively. The expression of P450arom mRNA was detected by RT-PCR in all the cases above.
Results: There was no significant difference between the pubertal mammary hypertrophy groups and normal groups on the expression rates of P450arom mRNA. But among the positive cases, the expression of P450arom mRNA within breast tissue were 0.202 +/- 0.048 in pubertal mammary hypertrophy group; and 0.159 +/- 0.068 in normal group. There was significant difference between the pubertal mammary hypertrophy and normal groups (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: The expression of P450arom mRNA in pubertal mammary hypertrophy are significantly higher than in normal mammary glandular tissue. The pubertal mammary hypertrophy may be related to the expression status of P450arom mRNA within breast tissue.