Features of Estrogen and Progesterone Receptor Expression in Meningiomas Depending on Gender

Abstract

Introduction. Meningiomas are non-malignant brain or spinal cord neoplasms originating from meningeal cells. The etiology of meningiomas remains insufficiently studied due to the subclinical course and relatively low incidence. Because meningiomas affect women more than twice as often as men, and there are recorded cases of the disease in pregnant women, it is advisable to investigate the role of female sex hormones in the development of this disease. Objective. Our work aimed to study the features of the expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors in meningioma tissue depending on the gender of the patients. Methods and matreials. A total of 50 samples were examined, of which 25 samples were from female patients (group W) and 25 from male patients (group M). The average age of patients in group W was 60.92±1.84 years, and group M was 59.88±3.39 years. Regardless of the equivalent indicators of average age, it is worth noting that the age of female patients varied 42 to 79 years and of male patients – 24 to 88 years. We examined the samples macroscopically, histologically and immunohistochemically (antibodies against estrogen and progesterone receptors). Results. When examined macroscopically, the meningioma had a characteristic spherical or plaque-like shape, grey colour, somewhat bumpy surface, moderate density, and fibrous structure on cross-section. During the histological examination, most samples in both groups were assigned to psammomatous or meningothelial histological subtypes, the characteristic histological patterns of which were concentric structures of flattened tumour cells and psammoma bodies. Conclusions. Immunohistochemical examination of meningioma tissue with antibodies against estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) receptors showed their more significant presence in samples of female patients compared to samples of male patients (p<0.001), which confirms the critical role of female sex hormones in etiology and pathogenesis meningioma.