Hmmmm.... Interesting thread. I find it very interesting how many women find out they have an AN, usually a pretty big one, in their third trimester of pregnancy. Hormones seem to have some role in ANs but my Drs. say there is no conclusive connection between hormones and ANs and that they don't know what causes them.
Did a quick google search on ANs & herpes and found this link:
http://www.medical-hypotheses.com/article/S0306-9877(10)00014-9/abstract
Hi Lisa and all,
Although no confirmed connection has been made between AN's and Estrogen/Progesterone, there are 2 interesting abstracts that have been done... NIH and AMA, both noted below. Some of you may recognize one of the authors of the AMA abstract as our own AN Medical Advisory Board (MAB) member, Dr Wiet:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2122366Estrogen and progesterone binding by acoustic neuroma tissue.
Monsell EM, Wiet RJ.
Source
Department of Otolaryngology, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI 48202.
Abstract
Tissue samples from 37 acoustic neuromas were assayed for estrogen and progesterone hormone receptor binding by radioimmunoassay using a dextran-coated charcoal method and Scatchard plot analysis. Twenty-one of the samples were from men, and 16 of the samples were from women. Seven of 37 samples (19%) were positive for estrogen receptor and six of 36 samples (17%) were positive for progesterone receptor. Three of 37 samples (8%) were positive for both receptors. There was no correlation of estrogen receptor positivity with the sex of the patient. These results indicate that estrogen or progesterone receptor binding activity or both are present in a small subset of acoustic tumors. Evidence is lacking, however, that binding of estrogen to the receptor results in growth changes in the tumor. The empirical use of antiestrogen treatment in acoustic neuroma does not appear to be justified at the present time.
PMID:
2122366
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
http://archotol.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/116/2/202Estrogen and Progesterone Receptors in Acoustic Neuromas
Leif Klinken, MD, PhD; Jens Thomsen, MD, PhD; Birgitte Bruun Rasmussen, MD, PhD; Richard J. Wiet, MD; Mirko Tos, MD, PhD
Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 1990;116(2):202-204.
Abstract
• Acoustic neuromas are more frequent, larger, and more vascular in women, and their growth rate increases during pregnancy. Estrogen receptors were claimed to be demonstrated in these neoplasms for the first time in 1981. Since then, numerous diverging studies, using various biochemical and histochemical methods, have been published on the contents of estrogen and progesterone receptors in acoustic neuromas. We determined the content of estrogen and progesterone receptors by means of an immunohistochemical method, using monoclonal antibodies, which has proved to be reliable, reasonably sensitive, and clinically relevant in other tissues, especially in breast carcinomas. No estrogen or progesterone receptors could be found in 18 consecutive acoustic neuromas from 7 men and 11 women, ranging in age from 26 to 73 years. The results do not support preoperative hormone treatment of acoustic neuromas.
(Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 1990;116:202-204)
Author Affiliations
From the Institute of Neuropathology (Dr Klinken), the Ear, Nose, and Throat Department, Gentofte University Hospital (Drs Thomsen and Tos), and the Institute of Pathology, Rigshospitalet (Dr Rasmussen), University of Copenhagen (Denmark); and the Department of Otolaryngology-Head Neck Surgery (Otology/Neurotology), Northwestern University, Chicago, Ill (Dr Wiet).
