Sex hormone receptors of hemangiomas in children

To investigate whether or not estrogen receptor and other sex hormone receptors are present in hemangioma tissues of children. Fifty-two specimens of hemangiomas were taken from 52 children. The specimens were doubly stained with hematoxylin-eosin and enzyme-linking affinity immunohistochemistry. The prepared tissue slides were observed under the microscope to search for estrogen receptors (ER), progestogen receptors (PR) and androgen receptors (AR) in all the cells. ER, PR and AR were detected in various kinds of hemangiomas. The mean positive cell rate of each sex hormone receptor in different hemangioma tissues revealed no significant distinction in statistics (P > 0.05). The results suggest that hemangiomas are one of the target tissues of estrogen. Estrogen, ER, PR, and AR may play an important role in the growth and development of hemangiomas.