title: Co-expression of ER-beta and HER2 associated with poorer prognosis in primary breast cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the prognostic value of co-expression of estrogen receptor (ER)-beta and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) in primary breast cancer patients in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  Tumour specimens from 308 patients undergoing surgery for primary breast cancer were evaluated. Expression of ER-beta and HER-2 was investigated by the immunohistochemistry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  123 patients (40%) were ER-beta positive and 58 (18.5 %) were HER2 positive. Among the 58 HER2 positive patients, 44 were ER-beta positive and 14 were ER-beta negative. ER-beta positive was associated with HER2 positive (75.9%, P=0.018) as well as ER-alpha positive (79.7%, P=0.023), poor cell differentiation (77.2% grade 2 or 3, P=0.010) and menopause age < 45 yr (55.3%, P=0.031). HER2 positive was associated with poor cell differentiation (93.1%, P=0.001), > or = 3 cm tumour size (67.2%, P=0.011).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both ER-beta positive and HER2 positive status was associated with poorer overall survival (OS) by univariate analysis. In both HER2 positive and HER2 negative subgroups, ER-beta positive was associated with poorer distant disease free survival (DDFS) but not OS, which implied that ER-beta might relate to metastasis in breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, the Medical School, Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Wen-Sheng
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Qui
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yue
authors.forename: Ai-Ping
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Zan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Li-Hong
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Fan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D002681:China; D047629:Estrogen Receptor beta / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D047629:Estrogen Receptor beta; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases