title: Evaluation of ER-α, ER-Β1 and ER-Β2 expression and correlation with clinicopathologic factors in invasive luminal subtype breast cancers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Luminal subtype breast cancer is defined as oestrogen receptor (ER)- and/or progesterone receptor (PR)- positive breast cancer. We detected the expression of ER-α, ER-Β1 and ER-Β2 in the tissue samples of invasive luminal subtype breast cancer patients, evaluated the correlations between these ER statuses and prognosis, and tried to clarify whether the status of ER-α isoforms provides clinically useful information further to what is already provided by the traditional ER-α/PR assay.
  
  
  METHODS
  The expression of ER-α, ER-Β1 and ER-Β2 in the paraffin-embedded sections of 162 invasive luminal subtype breast cancer patients was detected with an immunohistochemical staining method. With mid-long-term follow-up, the features of ER-α, ER-Β1 and ER-Β2 status and the correlations between clinical characteristics and the prognosis were analysed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  ER-Β1-positive status was correlated with PR (rs=0.217, p<0.01). The median follow-up time was 92 months (range, 4-98 months). Univariate analysis suggested that ER-Β1 status was significantly correlated to diseasefree survival (DFS) time (log rank=3.98, p=0.046), especially in patients with positive lymph nodes (log rank=6.20, p=0.013). In patients with smaller tumour size (=20 mm), negative ER-Β2 status was significantly correlated to overall survival time (log rank=3.87, p=0.049).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In invasive luminal subtype breast cancers, ER-Β1 is correlated with good prognosis and could be regarded as one of the factors for evaluating DFS time, especially in lymph node-positive patients. There may be some interactions between ER-Β1 and PR. In clinical practice, besides routine detection of ER-α and PR in invasive luminal subtype breast cancers, immunohistochemical staining of ER-Β1 and ER-Β2 should be considered in order to achieve more useful information. Further studies are needed to confirm our findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Yong An Road, Beijing 100050, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Huiming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhongtao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Lixue
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xuan
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Qimin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: Baoming
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yongmei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Song
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha / Q000378:metabolism*; D047629:Estrogen Receptor beta / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000378:metabolism; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000378:metabolism; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D016019:Survival Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C506487:ESR1 protein, human; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha; D047629:Estrogen Receptor beta; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone