title: Estrogen receptor β and epidermal growth factor receptor as early-stage prognostic biomarkers of non-small cell lung cancer.
abstract: As 20% of stage I NSCLC patients develop recurrent and often incurable cancer, the identification of prognostic markers has a meaningful clinical application. The biological significance of steroid hormone and EGF receptors, able to regulate key physiological functions, remains elusive in NSCLC. Our aim was to investigate the prognostic input of estrogen receptors (ERα, ERβ), progesterone receptors (PR) and EGFR in tumors from 58 stage I NSCLC patients. Antigen expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Prognostic evaluation was performed with the multivariate Cox model. We found that about 70 and 40% of samples expressed ERα or ERβ at cytoplasmic or nuclear level, respectively. Besides, only 12.1% of samples weakly expressed nuclear PR and 62.7% showed membrane EGFR staining. Correlation studies indicated an inverse association between EGFR expression and smoking status (p<0.01). Multivariate studies showed that the lack of nuclear ERβ or the loss of EGFR expression were independent prognosis markers associated with shorter overall survival. We also found that patients whose tumors were negative for these two biomarkers presented the worst outcome. In conclusion, our findings could be useful for selecting stage I NSCLC patients with poor prognosis to apply an earlier treatment that impacts on survival.
authors.affiliation: Research Area of the Institute of Oncology 'Angel H. Roffo', University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Laura Valeria
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Mauro
authors.forename: Mercedes
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dalurzo
authors.forename: María José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Carlini
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Myriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nuñez
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Simian
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lastiri
authors.forename: Bartolomé
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vasallo
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bal de Kier Joffé
authors.forename: María Guadalupe
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Pallotta
authors.forename: Lydia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Puricelli
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism*; D047629:Estrogen Receptor beta / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D047629:Estrogen Receptor beta; D066246:ErbB Receptors