highly significantP < 0.001
Serum E1S showed a decrease in postmenopausal women with malignant breast tu- mors compared to those with benign breast tumors (P < 0.02) without any significant difference was found among the premenopausal groups. Estriol (E3) was only significantly increased during the luteal phase in women with malignantbreast tumors than their corresponding women with benign breast tumors (P < 0.05). Remarkably, over all the three different populations, Testosterone (T) showed a highly significant decrease in women with malignant breast tumors (P < 0.001 for follicular; P < 0.05 for luteal and P < 0.005 for postmenopausal respectively) (Table 3).