Aromatase Induction in Stromal Vascular Cells from Human Breast Adipose Tissue by Growth Factors

Abstract

Stromal vascular cells from human adipose tissue are able to produce large amounts of estrogens; aromatase induction in these cells by cAMP or glucocorticoids in the presence of as yet unidentified serum factors was described (reviewed by Simpson et al., 1989). The finding of elevated aromatase activity in the adipose tissue near breast tumours (O’Neill et al., 1988) implies that tumour cells produce aromatase inducing factors. To test whether there exists a paracrine mechanism for aromatase induction based on growth factors, which are released by breast cancer cells (Dickson et al., 1990), we studied the regulation of aromatase activity in stromal cells of human breast adipose tissue by some of these factors. We showed that aromatase induction by cortisol depends on the addition of either PDGF-BB or bFGF together with db-cAMP (Schmidt and Loffler, 1994a). Here we present data which suggest that stromal vascular cells from breast adipose tissue are more susceptible to aromatase induction by PDGF than those from subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue.