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Plasma β-Glucuronidase as an Index of Hormone Dependency of Breast Tumours

B. L. Whitaker

Published 1961 in British Journal of Cancer

ABSTRACT

MANY of the alcohols, phenols and carboxylic acids of mammalian tissue exist in combination with D-glucuronic acid as /-D-glycopyranosiduronic acids. This applies to the steroid hormones and also to various substances, such as stilboestrol, which are administered therapeutically. The effect of such conjugation is usually to reduce the biological activity of the substance (Bray, 1953; Teague, 1954). The hydrolysis of such biosynthetic fi-D-glucopyranosiduronic acids to D-glycuronic acid and aglycons is catalyzed by the enzyme ,/-glucuronidase which is under endocrine control (Levvy, 1953). Kerr and Levvy (1947) and Levvy, Kerr and Campbell (1948) demonstrated a connection between the level of ,8-glucuronidase in the tissues and processes of growth and repair. Goldbarg, Pineda, Banks and Rutenberg (1959) and Whitaker (1960) observed raised f,-glucuronidase levels in the blood of a proportion of patients with breast cancer. In 47 cases investigated an abnormally high fI-glucuronidase was observed in approximately 50 per cent (Whitaker, 1960). The remission rate following hypophysectomy for metastatic breast cancer has been estimated by various workers (Luft, Olivecrona, Ikkos, Nilsson and Ljunggren, 1956; Baron, Gurling and Radley-Smith, 1958) as between 45 and 50 per cent. The present investigation was undertaken in order to establish whether or not there was any correlation between the plasma fi-glucuronidase and the remission rate following hypophysectomy.

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