Objective: To examine the effect of alcohol and its derivatives on leiomyomata versus normal myometrium in cell culture.
Design: A study on human tissue cultures.
Setting: A tertiary-care university hospital.
Patient(s): Premenopausal women with uterine myomas.
Intervention(s): Obtaining paired cultures of normal myometrium and myomas from women undergoing hysterectomy.
Main outcome measure(s): Analysis of the effect of ethanol and acetaldehyde on cell growth and the expression of relevant proteins.
Result(s): Acetaldehyde statistically significantly inhibited the growth of myoma cells compared with normal myometrium. The level of alcohol dehydrogenase 1 (ADH1) protein was lower in myoma than in myometrial cells. The acetaldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) protein level was higher in myoma cells. Treatment with acetaldehyde resulted in a relative reduction of ALDH1 level in the myoma cells.
Conclusion(s): Acetaldehyde has an inhibitory effect on cell growth of myoma compared with normal myometrium. The reduced level of ADH1 and the increased level of ALDH1 proteins observed in myoma cell culture reduces the acetaldehyde level and thus may be involved in myoma cell growth.