Steroid receptor and peroxidase assays will be continued to confirm their hormone regulation in normal endometrium and to evaluate their possible use in prediction of hormone responsiveness of endometrial carcinoma. Antibodies to estrogen receptor will be studied to establish an immunochemical assay for the endometrial estrogen receptor which will be related to binding assays with labeled steroid and also hormone responses. Additional data are being collected and evaluated to study correlations between: 1) biochemical parameters related to sex steroid hormone receptors; and 2) histopathologic and clinical parameters. A high proirity will be to establish ovarian adenocarcinoma culture systems in vitro and in nude mice. The rationale for this latter objective is to learn the growth patterns of the ovarian cancer cells under different experimental conditions, e.g., presence and absence of sex steroid hormones, antiestrogens and chemotherapeutic agents. We also plan to perform uptake studies with 125I-labeled estradiol which has become available in the last year. We will continue clinical studies of the effects of lithium on blood counts, circulating stem cells, and CSA production in patients receiving chemotherapy. A larger patient population and longer follow-up will be needed to determine the effects of lithium in this setting. We also plan to develop both a long term hematopoietic stem cell assay (Dexter-type) and reliable tumor cell culture capabilities in order to eventually expand our studies of lithium into these areas.
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