Body size measurements, digit ratio (2D:4D) and oestrogen and progesterone receptors’ expressions in juvenile gigantomastia
-
Anna Kasielska-Trojan
,
Marian Danilewicz
Abstract
Background
Juvenile breast hypertrophy is characterised by massive enlargement of the breast in the peri-pubertal period. We aimed to analyse body size measurements (body mass index [BMI], waist-to-hip circumference ratio [WHR]), digit ratio (ratio of II and IV digits’ length [2D:4D]) and oestrogen receptor (ER) alpha (ERα) and progesterone receptors (PRs) in the breast gland in women with juvenile gigantomastia.
Methods
The study involved 30 women (mean age 25.7 years) (mean age of onset – 14.8 years). ERα and PR expressions were detected immunohistochemically in breast gland samples. For comparison, 100 controls (50 women and 50 men) were included.
Results
BMI and WHR in women with gigantomastia were higher than in control women and the former had a higher WHR than expected for their BMI. 2D:4D in the examined women did not differ from that in control women. However, left 2D:4D was negatively related to the age of gigantomastia onset. There were no correlations between ER and PR expressions and the analysed body and digit ratios.
Conclusions
The lack of a relationship between 2D:4D and juvenile breast hypertrophy may suggest that foetal exposure to sex hormones may not be crucial in its aetiology. However, the link between high left 2D:4D and early development of gigantomastia suggests that prenatal sex hormones have a role in its development timing. High WHR, and particularly high WHR relative to BMI, may indicate that these women had at some stage of development higher circulating androgens, which may have been converted to oestrogens in breasts due to local aromatase activity. Verification of this hypothesis could allow consideration of the role of aromatase inhibitors in juvenile breast hypertrophy.
Disclosure
Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
Research funding: None.
Employment/leadership: None.
Honorarium: None.
Competing interests: The funding organisation(s) played no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the report for publication.
Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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©2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Original Articles
- Vitamin D status in Israeli pediatric type 1 diabetes patients: the AWeSoMe Study Group experience and literature review
- Metabolic features and changes in glucose-induced serum glucagon-like peptide-1 levels in children with hypothalamic obesity
- Assessment of intima-media thickness of the carotid artery and intraluminal diameter of the brachial artery as cardiovascular risk markers in Brazilian adolescents with overweight or obesity
- The role of LCPUFA-ω3 on the obesity-associated hyperandrogenemia of pubertal girls: secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial
- Genetic variants of the phenylalanine hydroxylase gene in patients with phenylketonuria in the northeast of Iran
- Oral health status of children with phenylketonuria
- Birth weight related blood concentrations of the neurotransmission amino acids glutamine plus glutamate, phenylalanine and tyrosine in full-term breastfed infants perinatally
- Hyperthyrotropinemia is common in preterm infants who are born small for gestational age
- Radioactive iodine therapy for pediatric Graves’ disease: a single-center experience over a 10-year period
- The decision-making levels of urine tetrasaccharide for the diagnosis of Pompe disease in the Turkish population
- A questionnaire study on sleep disturbances associated with Prader-Willi syndrome
- Body size measurements, digit ratio (2D:4D) and oestrogen and progesterone receptors’ expressions in juvenile gigantomastia
- The effect of celiac disease and gluten-free diet on pubertal development: a two-center study
- Observational study of disorders of sex development in Yaounde, Cameroon
- Letter to the Editor
- Reforming the male Tanner genital scale
- Short Communication
- The association between vitamin D levels and precocious puberty: a meta-analysis
- Case Reports
- Partial trisomy 9p and 14q microduplication in a patient with growth retardation: a case report and review of the literature
- Two different missense mutations of PEX genes in two similar patients with severe Zellweger syndrome: an argument on the genotype-phenotype correlation
- Patient report
- Marked phenotypic variable expression among brothers with duplication of Xq27.1 involving the SOX3 gene
- Case Report
- Does the risk of arterial hypertension increase in the course of triptorelin treatment?
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Original Articles
- Vitamin D status in Israeli pediatric type 1 diabetes patients: the AWeSoMe Study Group experience and literature review
- Metabolic features and changes in glucose-induced serum glucagon-like peptide-1 levels in children with hypothalamic obesity
- Assessment of intima-media thickness of the carotid artery and intraluminal diameter of the brachial artery as cardiovascular risk markers in Brazilian adolescents with overweight or obesity
- The role of LCPUFA-ω3 on the obesity-associated hyperandrogenemia of pubertal girls: secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial
- Genetic variants of the phenylalanine hydroxylase gene in patients with phenylketonuria in the northeast of Iran
- Oral health status of children with phenylketonuria
- Birth weight related blood concentrations of the neurotransmission amino acids glutamine plus glutamate, phenylalanine and tyrosine in full-term breastfed infants perinatally
- Hyperthyrotropinemia is common in preterm infants who are born small for gestational age
- Radioactive iodine therapy for pediatric Graves’ disease: a single-center experience over a 10-year period
- The decision-making levels of urine tetrasaccharide for the diagnosis of Pompe disease in the Turkish population
- A questionnaire study on sleep disturbances associated with Prader-Willi syndrome
- Body size measurements, digit ratio (2D:4D) and oestrogen and progesterone receptors’ expressions in juvenile gigantomastia
- The effect of celiac disease and gluten-free diet on pubertal development: a two-center study
- Observational study of disorders of sex development in Yaounde, Cameroon
- Letter to the Editor
- Reforming the male Tanner genital scale
- Short Communication
- The association between vitamin D levels and precocious puberty: a meta-analysis
- Case Reports
- Partial trisomy 9p and 14q microduplication in a patient with growth retardation: a case report and review of the literature
- Two different missense mutations of PEX genes in two similar patients with severe Zellweger syndrome: an argument on the genotype-phenotype correlation
- Patient report
- Marked phenotypic variable expression among brothers with duplication of Xq27.1 involving the SOX3 gene
- Case Report
- Does the risk of arterial hypertension increase in the course of triptorelin treatment?
