Sex-determining region Y levels in maternal plasma: Evaluation in abnormal pregnancy.

Aim: A number of studies for the measurement of cell-free fetal DNA in maternal blood have been reported; however, their clinical significance has remained unclear. We proposed to clarify the relationship between fetal DNA levels and obstetrical disorders.

Methods: One hundred and eighty-five cases of normal pregnancy, ranging from 8 to 40 weeks' gestation, and 70 cases of abnormal pregnancy were included.

Spatially heterogeneous expression of aromatase P450 through promoter II is closely correlated with the level of steroidogenic factor-1 transcript in endometrioma tissues.

Endometriosis is an estrogen-dependent disease of women of reproductive age. Recent studies demonstrate that endometriosis per se express high levels of estrogen synthetase (aromatase P450). The resulting estrogen synthesized in situ may play a role in the development and exacerbation of the disease.

Overexpression of aromatase P450 in leiomyoma tissue is driven primarily through promoter I.4 of the aromatase P450 gene (CYP19).

The CYP19 gene encoding aromatase P450 (estrogen synthetase) is expressed in several extragonadal sites and regulated in a tissue-specific fashion, which is achieved by alternative use of the seven different promoters (and corresponding exons 1) of the CYP19 gene. Previously, we demonstrated that aromatase P450 is overexpressed in leiomyoma tissue and that in situ estrogen synthesized in leiomyoma tissues possibly plays a role in leiomyoma growth. To elucidate the mechanism of overexpression of aromatase P450, we determined the promoter use of aromatase P450 in leiomyomas.