title: Assessment of ER-alpha and ER-beta expression levels in malicious tumors of the uterine corpus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this article is to present an assessment of the expression levels of estrogen receptors ER-alpha and ER-beta in malicious tumors of the uterine corpus.
  
  
  METHODS
  Estrogen receptor expression levels were tested using semiquantitative immunohistochemical methods. Paraffin-embedded sections of tissue from the corpus of the uterus from 171 patients were used in the research.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analysis of the relation between ER-beta expression levels and the clinical grade of disease (based on FIGO classification) showed that these parameters are significantly related: p = 0.0099. There were no statistically significant relations between ER-alpha expression levels in tumors or clinical stages of tumors based on the FIGO criteria. The presence of high estrogen receptor beta expression levels is often accompanied by a low estrogen receptor alpha expression level and such arrangements allow the overt biological function of a dominant receptor.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The differences in tissue distribution of both estrogen receptors could indicate their different biological roles.
authors.affiliation: 2nd Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Popiela
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Baranowsk
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Popiela
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Slomczynska
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manowiec
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gabrys
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D047629:Estrogen Receptor beta / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D005260:Female; D013509:Gynecologic Surgical Procedures; D006801:Humans; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha; D047629:Estrogen Receptor beta