title: Predictive and prognostic value of ER-α36 expression in breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study is to investigate the predictive and prognostic value of ER-α36 expression in breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  ER-α36 expression in 120 breast cancer tumors was assessed by an immunohistochemistry assay. All patients were divided into two groups according to the chemotherapy procedure: group A, 50 patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy before surgery; group B, 70 patients who were performed adjuvant chemotherapy after surgery, and they all took at least two cycles of anthracycline-based and/or paclitaxel-based chemotherapy after surgery. The therapy effect on group A patients was evaluated two cycles later by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.0 (RECIST 1.0).
  
  
  RESULTS
  ER-α36 protein was positively expressed in 51 tumor specimens (42.5%) and no correlation was found between the expression of ER-α 36 and the expression of the full-length ER-α (ER-α66), progesterone receptor (PgR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2), Ki-67, tumor sizes, and the numbers of lymph node metastasis. Patients with ER-α36 negative expression tumors treated with the neoadjuvant chemotherapy had a higher remission rate [partial response: stable: progressed (n) 25:3:1 vs.11:9:1; P=0.009], a better response (86% vs. 52%; P=0.009), and a more favorable outcomes in triple-negative breast cancer patients compared to ER-α36 positive patients and ER-α36 negative expression was correlated with DFS in patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ER-α36 negative tumors benefit more from neoadjuvant chemotherapy and have better prognosis, which may warrant further studies with larger size of the sample.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, PR China.
authors.forename: Lanfang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, PR China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ke
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, PR China.
authors.forename: Yanli
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, PR China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, PR China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, PR China.
authors.forename: Sui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, PR China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaoting
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Creighton University, Omaha, NE 68178, USA.
authors.forename: Zhaoyi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, PR China. Electronic address: pengshen001@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha; D020033:Protein Isoforms
keywords: Breast cancer; Chemotherapy; ER-α36; Prognosis