title: Hormone receptor status in breast cancer and its relation to age and other prognostic factors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Increasing evidence shows the importance of young age, estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) status, and HER-2 expression in patients with breast cancers.
  
  
  METHODS
  We organized an analytic cross-sectional study of 105 women diagnosed with breast cancer who have been operated on between 2008 to 2010. We evaluated age, size, hormone receptor status, HER-2 and P53 expression as possible indicator of lymph node involvement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There is a direct correlation between positive progesterone receptor status and being younger than 40 (P < 0.05). Also, compared with older women, young women had tumors that were more likely to be large in size and have higher stages (P < 0.05). Furthermore patients with negative progesterone receptor status were more likely to have HER-2 overexpression (P < 0.05). The differences in propensity to lymph node metastasis between hormone receptor statuses were not statically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although negative progesterone receptor tumors were more likely to have HER-2 overexpression, it is possible that higher stage and larger size breast cancer in younger women is related to positive progesterone receptor status.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Imam Reza Hospital, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pourzand
authors.forename: M Bassir A
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Fakhree
authors.forename: Shahryar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hashemzadeh
authors.forename: Monireh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Halimi
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Daryani