title: Expression profile and prognostic role of sex hormone receptors in gastric cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Increasing interest has been devoted to the expression and possible role of sex hormone receptors in gastric cancer, but most of these findings are controversial. In the present study, the expression profile of sex hormone receptors in gastric cancer and their clinicopathological and prognostic value were determined in a large Chinese cohort.
  
  
  METHODS
  The mRNA and protein expression of estrogen receptor alpha (ERα), estrogen receptor beta (ERβ), progesterone receptor (PR), and androgen receptor (AR) in primary gastric tumors and corresponding adjacent normal tissues from 60 and 866 Chinese gastric cancer patients was detected by real-time quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry method, respectively. The expression profile of the four receptors was compared and their associations with clinicopathological characteristics were assessed by using Chi-square test. The prognostic value of the four receptors in gastric cancer was evaluated by using univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The presence of ERα, ERβ, PR, and AR in both gastric tumors and normal tissues was confirmed but their expression levels were extremely low except for the predominance of ERβ. The four receptors were expressed independently and showed a decreased expression pattern in gastric tumors compared to adjacent normal tissues. The positive expression of the four receptors all correlated with high tumor grade and intestinal type, and ERα and AR were also associated with early TNM stage and thereby a favorable outcome. However, ERα and AR were not independent prognostic factors for gastric cancer when multivariate survival analysis was performed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings indicate that the sex hormone receptors may be partly involved in gastric carcinogenesis but their clinicopathological and prognostic significance in gastric cancer appears to be limited.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Changzheng Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gan
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yong-Jie
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Guan-Zhen
authors.initials: GZ
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Jie-Jun
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D047629:Estrogen Receptor beta / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011944:Receptors, Androgen / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis
chemical_list: C410798:AR protein, human; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha; D047629:Estrogen Receptor beta; D011944:Receptors, Androgen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone