title: Immunohistochemical Expression of Estrogen Receptor-α and Progesterone Receptor in Patients with Papillary Thyroid Cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) prevalence is nearly 3 times higher in females than in males. This gender difference suggests that growth and progression of PTC might be influenced by female sex hormones.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the expression of both estrogen receptor (ER)-α and progesterone receptor (PR) by immunohistochemistry in 203 PTC patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  ER-α and PR expression was evaluated in paraffin-embedded tumor tissue samples of 45 males and 158 females followed up for 7.2 ± 3.7 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  ER-α was expressed in 52 (25.6%) patients (41 females and 11 males) and PR in 94 (46.3%) patients (75 females and 19 males). ER-α and PR were coexpressed in 31 (15.3%) patients (27 females and 4 males). ER-α expression correlated significantly with tumor size in the whole sample (ER-α positive 22.8 ± 11.8 mm vs. ER-α negative 15.1 ± 12.4 mm;p= 0.02) and in the subgroup of women (ER-α positive 18.8 ± 12.8 mm vs. ER-α negative 14.9 ± 12.3 mm;p= 0.048). In addition, ER-α expression significantly correlated with remission of the disease. In fact, of the 192 patients followed up, 50/153 (32.7%) disease-free patients were ER-α positive, in contrast to only 3/39 (7.7%) with evidence of disease persistence/recurrence (χ2= 8.5,p= 0.0036). PR expression was not associated with any of the parameters analyzed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study confirmed recent data indicating that ER-α and PR expression is a common finding in thyroid tumor tissue. However, in contrast to previous reports, we observed an association between ER-α expression and a more favorable outcome in PTC patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Pathology of the Adult and Developmental Age "G. Barresi", University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sturniolo
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism Research Unit, Vall d'Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Carles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zafon
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Mariacarla
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moleti
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Hospital Vall d'Hebron, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Josep
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Castellví
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vermiglio
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism Research Unit, Vall d'Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mesa
keywords: Estrogen receptor; Progesterone receptor; Sexual hormone receptors; Thyroid cancer